Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Local media revealed Friday that the 32-year-old Belgian man who stabbed two police officers in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels last night is no stranger to the courts. He was released from prison in 2019 and is known for his extremist ideas. His name was even on the OCAD List, a list put together by the Data Analysis and Risk Agency, the security agency that monitors potentially dangerous individuals.
After making threats at a police station in Evere municipality in Brussels, the Moroccan-born young man took action a few hours later. At about 7:15 pm, he stopped a police patrol in Shekharbek and attacked two police officers with a knife. He stabbed them several times. One of the officers died later in the evening. The other was seriously injured but is said to have been out of danger in the meantime. And the media reported that a security assistance force arrived at the scene and shot the attacker, and he was taken to the hospital for treatment. The authorities denied rumors about his death.
And the offender is no stranger to the police was in prison for years. He was released only three years ago. During his time in prison he was violently attacked by a correctional officer. He was known for his extremist ideas. He even spent a lot of time in a prison wing designated for extremists.
The police also spotted him after his release. Although he has never been convicted of terrorist acts, he is. For years on the OCAD List, the list that monitors potentially dangerous individuals. So the court was apprehensive about his extreme talk, but it is not clear how strict he was to follow in practice.
Yesterday morning, a young man of Moroccan origin arrived at the police station with a very confused speech. He himself asked to be accepted. According to the public prosecutor, he was then taken to the psychiatry unit at Saint-Luc University Hospital in the Walloy district of Brussels for care, but disappeared there again a few hours later.
Shortly before the attack, according to bystanders, he was shouting "Allahu Akbar." The Federal Prosecutor's Office is currently investigating whether this was an act of terrorism. Mother. no  . .