Summer festivals consider ban on handbags and backpacks

The organisers of major Belgian music festivals like Rock Werchter, Tomorrowland, Graspop, the Gentse Feesten and Lokerse Feesten on Monday will meet to discuss the security measures to be taken this summer, writes Het Nieuwsblad. Due to the increased terror threat level in Belgium, the festival organisers should observe the same strict security measures as the country's football stadiums, according to Jan Briers, president of the Federation of Music Festivals in Flanders (FMIV).

Briers points out that football stadiums in France no longer allow visitors to enter with bags of any kind since the November attacks in Paris. "Visitors of music festivals this summer should also leave their handbags and backpacks at home," he says.

OCAD, the office for national threat assessment, has called for increased vigilance around so-called “soft targets”, meaning cinemas, shopping centres, festivals and other places where many people congregate.