Another shooting occurred next to Aumale metro station in Anderlecht on Thursday night. One man was injured and hospitalised.
One man was shot at between 03:00 and 04:30 at the junction between Rue Jules Broeren and Rue de la Vérité early on Friday morning. This is the fifth shooting to take place in the area in less than two weeks.
"One person was injured in their right leg. He was hospitalised but his life is not in danger," spokesperson for the Brussels Midi Zone Rhizlane Sousou told The Brussels Times.
Two suspects fled the scene on a scooter and a chase ensued, but police are still searching for them. It is unclear what motivated the shooting for the time being.
Drug 'hotspot'
Increased violence near Aumale prompted the Brussels-Capital Region to declare the area a "hotspot" on Wednesday, the sixteenth in the city and the fourth in Anderlecht.
Under the hotspot strategy, each designated area gets a coordinated police response in a bid to prevent drug dealing and subsequent violence from occurring.
On top of Aumale being designated a hotspot, the municipality of Anderlecht announced that it would take additional security measures this week. Traffic blockades, increased street lighting and CCTV and a greater police presence all aim to discourage people from purchasing drugs.
Critics of the hotspot policy believe that all it does is displace a problem rather than resolve it.
"I sometimes have the impression that we underestimate the ability of drug traffickers to reorganise themselves," communications officer for non-profit DUNE Charlotte Bonbled told The Brussels Times. "All the trafficking and dealing that goes on in these neighbourhoods will move from street to street, from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, from commune to commune."
