Mayors around Brussels-Midi again ask for federal police reinforcements

The mayors of Anderlecht, Forest and Saint-Gilles, along with the police chief of the Midi police zone, are again calling for the federal judicial police and the federal railway police forces to be strengthened around Brussels-Midi station.

“We don’t want a police state, we want to be able to guarantee the safety of our citizens, and for that we have to tackle criminal organisations,” the mayors said in a joint statement held after the police zone’s most recent security council meeting.

Cureghem and Peterbos in Anderlecht in particular have been the site of recent drug-related gun violence.

“The investigations into those shootings are ongoing,” said chief of police Jurgen De Landsheer.

“There’s cooperation with the federal judicial police, under the coordination of the public prosecutor's office. We have the full support of the public prosecutor in our fight against street dealers.”

But for various reasons, the drugs unit of the local criminal investigation department consisted of just five people in the past few weeks, the chief of police said, “even though they get the support of our full criminal investigation department, which consists of some 70 people”.

“We have to work on two axes,” Anderlecht mayor Fabrice Cumps (PS) said.

“We have to tackle the street dealers, but also and especially the criminal organisations behind them. This can only be done by hitting them where it hurts: in their wallets.”

The three mayors said that drug trafficking had evolved in recent years from a "village economy" to a much larger and more complex phenomenon.

“The gangs earn tens of thousands of euros every day,” said Saint-Gilles mayor Jean Spinette (PS).

“Our new prosecutor is very motivated to tackle them. We hope his appeal to the federal level will be heard and the federal judicial police and the federal railway police will finally be strengthened.

"We also ask that our zone have access to all camera surveillance systems available at the federal level, for example in metro stations."

Interior and security minister Bernard Quintin (MR) said that, as of Monday, the federal judicial police in Brussels will be adding 15 officers. The extra officers will help investigate drug violence in the capital.

All investigations into illegal arms trafficking will from now on be coordinated nationally at the request of investigators, the minister also announced, in order to strengthen the fight against illegal arms trafficking.

The measures come on top of the previously announced reinforcement of the local police zone following gun violence in the area earlier this month, which prompted mayors to announce that police zones would cooperate better with each other.

Quintin also decided to reinforce the Midi zone with about 20 officers from the federal reserve, which had previously been called upon following gun violence in autumn 2024.

The railway police were also given 30 additional inspectors for metro station security, support that will be maintained "as long as it is necessary", according to Quintin.

Since 7 February, teams from the Brussels Capital/Ixelles police zone and the south of Brussels have been patrolling in solidarity with officers in Anderlecht and Saint-Gilles.