15 June 2020
The Belgian government plans to reduce the number of soldiers deployed on the streets. They were originally deployed in 2015. The proposals have caused alarm amongst the Jewish community in Brussels.
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"...it was after the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris and a foiled plot for a strike on Belgian soil around the same time that soldiers were deployed to the streets.
At the height of the threat level in the wake of the 2016 Brussels attacks, 3,000 armed soldiers paced the pavements.
There's only around 200 remaining now but the operation has cost the Belgian government more than 200 million euros over the past five years.
The defence minister's proposal is to wind back operations gradually until September with the army only staying on at nuclear sites.
These deployments have caused major divisions among politicians and the military here."
Belgian Jewish community feeling vulnerable over scaling back counter-terror patrols (euronews, link)
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