The Belgian interior minister has called the recent spike in shootings in Brussels a national emergency as authorities mobilise extra police forces.

Police reinforcement plan

Bernard Quintin, of the Reformist Movement (MR), used the phrase in a statement on 26 August after the Brussels Regional Security Council (CORES) met at the initiative of Brussels Minister‑President Boris Dilliès. "We are facing a national emergency," Quintin said, adding that the attack on a police station showed how serious matters had become.

The meeting followed a series of gun incidents in late August. On 21 August, assailants opened fire on a police station on Rue Démosthène in Anderlecht, south‑west Brussels. Nobody was injured and two suspects fled on an e‑scooter. Further shootings were recorded in Saint‑Gilles and Anderlecht over the next days.

Federal police logged 57 shootings across the 19 municipalities of the Brussels‑Capital Region between January and July, leaving two dead and 21 injured, according to regional broadcaster BX1. Across the whole of 2025 the same force counted 101 shootings, eight deaths and 43 wounded.

Belgium is a principal entry point for cocaine into Europe, with the port of Antwerp the main gateway. Armed competition between criminal networks has spread from the port city to the capital over the past decade.

Quintin committed 40 additional federal officers to street patrols and investigations. He said an extra infantry platoon would be deployed, the special police units known as DSU reinforced and the federal judicial police in Brussels strengthened structurally. FIPA operations, Full Integrated Police Action, against drug trafficking will continue.

The violence threatens the security of EU institutions based in the capital, prompting concern among member states. Similar spikes in organised‑crime related shootings have been reported in other EU ports, highlighting a broader challenge for European law‑enforcement cooperation. If unchecked, the unrest could affect the perception of safety for diplomats and staff working at the European Commission and Council.

Theo Francken, defence minister of the New Flemish Alliance (N‑VA), confirmed that about 50 soldiers began patrolling Brussels metro and railway stations alongside police on 3 April. Their powers remain limited and they operate only in mixed teams with officers.

Jean Spinette, mayor of Saint‑Gilles and member of the Socialist Party (PS), said he does not intend to issue curfews, arguing that the regional hotspots policy already gives police sufficient powers. He had earlier demanded 80 extra officers for his municipality, complaining that only four federal reinforcements had arrived after the shootings on his territory.

Mathias Vanden Borre, an N‑VA member of the Brussels Parliament, wrote on X after the police station attack that the capital was caught in a spiral of violence and political incapacity. Ahmed Laaouej, president of the Brussels PS federation, said the security situation could not continue and urged Quintin to act seriously against organised crime.

Julien Moinil, Brussels public prosecutor, has been under police protection since 2025 following threats from trafficking networks. He described the attack on the Anderlecht station as an attempt to undermine state authority and warned in August 2025 that the capital was averaging a shooting every four days, meaning any resident could become a victim.

Brussels, which hosts the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and part of the European Parliament, went 613 days without a regional government after the June 2024 elections. Dilliès was sworn in on 14 February 2026, heading a seven‑party coalition.