UPDATED 5:36 AM central
There have been a series of bombings in Brussels, at the Brussels airport and one or more Metro stations. As I write this, different media outlets are reporting different numbers of those killed in the attacks, with figures ranging from 13 to 23.
Horrific. My heart goes out to all WHTM readers in Belgium; I hope you and yours are all safe.
Please post links to any useful information you find in the comments below.
This is a thread for the WHTM community (and others who are broadly sympathetic to feminism and this blog); MRAs and trolls will be banned.
There’s a press conference scheduled for 10:00am Brussels time (about 2 minutes from now). Although as there are new developments that might get pushed back.
With the proviso that initial reports from events like this are often subject to review, here’s what the BBC are reporting:
Two almost simultaneous explosions at the airport. One on concourse, one on or near runway. Police say concourse one is suicide bomber.
Initial reports say 30 plus casualties. Including 11 dead.
Now reports coming in of explosions at one or more Metro stations.
Airport and Metro now closed.
Belgian police say they were on high alert in anticipation of retaliation from raids and arrests last week.
I’m so sorry to hear about this. Violence begets violence.
This situation calls for calmness and restraint.
May it be so.
To the WHTM readers in Brussels: My heart goes out to you. Stay strong. Stay safe.
Long time reader, first time poster.
And Belgian…
I’m currently at work, 600 meters away from the metro station where there has been an explosion (and 14 km away from the airport). I pass by that station on my way home every day…
News are scarce and everything is eerily quiet here.
Public transportations are all closed and we’ve been required to stay inside the building we are in until further instructions.
I keep going from fearing for my life and wondering how I’ll manage to go home tonight (I’m a train commuter), nothing in between.
I’m also kind of amazed at how cool headed I’m staying. Family members out of town seem to be more scared than I who am in the middle of it. It’s all very strange, maybe it hasn’t really hit me yet.
Damn, I have no words. This makes me so angry! Brussels is relatively close to where I live, and it really makes me think about a lot of things.
EDIT: I fear these kind of attacks will become commonplace here soon, too. Maybe not as bad as in the Middle East, but just a fact of live, a thing that happens.
Wow. I just woke up and heard about this. I don’t know what to say. I am horrified that this is the direction humanity seems to be headed in. I wish there could just be more peace and love in this world instead of so much hatred and violence. Why does this kind of stuff keep happening?
Everyone who was affected by this horrible tragedy will be in my thoughts today. This just makes me so sad.
I’ve seen reports of 17-23 dead. This makes me sick to my stomach.
I’m with you SJA. I wish there was more peace and love. I could compromise on the love part, even, if people could just learn to live and let live.
Unfortunately from these trends I fear that extremism from all sides are going to be more and more commonplace and justified in the eyes of many.
And every day this just gives more hateful people on the internet reasons to bully and discriminate people on the other side.
Hello.
Current provisional report is about 13 casualities and about 35 injured persons.
I wonder if it is linked with the recent arrest of Abdeslam.
I wish our Belgian neighbours my bests !
And i hope this will not escalate, there are already enough problems, so no need to add somes more.
And some suckers already flood the line with false informations. Fuck them.
@torn feather, I’m glad you are OK. Stay safe. My thoughts are with you and the people there. I’m glad you are feeling not too scared. I’ll be wishing you well all day
I work in a mall near Antwerp Station. Still at work but if my shift didn’t end in an hour, I’d still want to go home. I have a flight out of Brussels Airport in about two weeks that I’m not cancelling.
I am, however, booking a night in a fancy hotel. I probably shouldn’t, but I won’t let these assholes ruin my vacation high. I’d rather look forward to that trip than think about what would happen if I was there.
I’m also curious if this could’ve been worse. I wonder if the recent arrest means that a worse attack was planned but if this was rushed because they were getting close to stopping it.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2016/mar/22/brussels-airport-explosions-live-updates
Their live updates are generally pretty solid.
https://twitter.com/STIBMIVB/status/712233802370834433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
This is horrible, my thoughts are with the victims and their families…
Yes, I think so too. It’s a spiral of hate and fear and I worry that this trend will damage the peaceful european unity irreparably.
For fuck’s sake, the nationalist politicians here in my country are already using this to stir up hatred against asylum seekers and muslims…
Also BBC live feed normally pretty good:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-35869266
Second the calls for peace love and tolerance.
And @OoglyBoggles – I hope you don’t mind a small correction – they’re not bullying and discriminating against the other side, they’re bullying and discriminating against people of the same side who happen to share skin colour, and/or (nominal) faith of people on the other side.
Meanwhile US Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump reacted by saying he would “close up borders.”
“I’m not locked in here with you, you’re locked in here with me!”
And Mike Cernovich is busy post-hoc martyring the victims to his cause. Stay classy, cockhole.
I’m gonna be on a plane all day today. Not the news I wanted this morning. 🙁
I’m also not looking forward to seeing the broader consequences of this. Ugh.
Just woke up, so I may not be entirely coherent, but: stay safe, stay calm, and please, please do not let this push you toward radicalism and retaliation.
This attack was, allegedly, in retaliation for some raids and arrests. On that front, it is a meaningful sign that progress has/had been made in cleaning up the cell responsible for the Paris attacks.
If the end result of this is more fear and suspicion – if it does result in borders closing, immigration blocked and ever more security theater – then ultimately we’re all going to be stuck in fox holes, peering at each other over no-man’s-land. Before we get to that point, we need to answer one question: do we want to hide, or do we want to live?
@ IP
It can be hard to be rational about these things, but if it’s any comfort, being in an aeroplane is about the safest activity any of us undertake.
And probably safer today, than most days. Though you’ll probably find getting through security….. tiresome.
Hugs, Torn Feather.
Dispensing kittyhugs to everyone who needs one.
Our local racists are already busy being very awful, which is really predictable, they did the same shit in November. It is just extra-awful when those racist assholes are sitting in ministeries and Parliament.
People are now tweeting ‘#ikwillhelpen’ in Belgium, offering rides and safe space where to stay for those who are stranded; also tweeting ‘#PorteOuvert’ and ‘#OpenHouse’.
I agree racists have been extra awful this time around.
While not strictly speaking a racist, an important figure of the PS, in power in France, have already tried to use thoses bombings to force the opposition to vote for laws pushed by the governement. I call that a carrion eater.
@Skiriki
Thank you. I needed that. After a long day training a new guy at work and, in the evening, launching my new business, all with a migraine that I’ve only just dared to take something for (couldn’t earlier due to drowsiness).
And now this.
It breaks my heart. Belgium is a lovely place, very friendly, with good people and progressive immigration policies. I fear for what it may now become. I didn’t make it to Brussels (only passed through on the train from Paris to Antwerp) but I’m sure it is just as lovely. No one and no country deserves this. I fervently hope this does not teach them to hate, that would be the greatest tragedy.