Three hallmarks of Brussels’ malaise – a treacherous metro stop, a turf war, and a city paralysed by traffic – collided in a Shakespearean tragedy earlier this month.
Gunmen emerged from the Clemenceau metro station brandishing a military-grade firearm from a bygone era. Shots shattered the air, sending pedestrians fleeing. The violence echoed far beyond Belgium, again cementing Brussels’ reputation as a dangerous city.
These events have left Brussels’ residents at the mercy of rival gangs fighting to assert their hold on the drug trade. No longer are liberty and safety taken for granted, fear and frustration have become dominant. With public outcry growing, one has to ask: Is the capital falling into the hands of gangsters?
Born to be dangerous, born to be Brussels
Brussels has a legacy of crime: it came in three waves. The first emerged in the aftermath of Belgium’s independence in 1830, when rapid industrialisation and the country’s role as a trade hub fostered organised crime. With high import duties and a booming economy, criminal groups thrived, focusing on smuggling and protection rackets along port cities such as Antwerp and the administrative capital Brussels. Rival factions wanting to monopolise these routes clashed on the streets—setting the stage for the territorial battles of today.
By the 20th century, smuggling networks evolved into narcotic gangs with significant financial gains fuelling an escalation in violence through assassinations and vendettas. Armed conflicts, initially fought with knives and pistols, intensified. The number of gangs is unknown, with different sources counting between 15 and 80, each controlling pockets of the city and with peak membership numbering in the hundreds.
Inspired by their American and French counterparts, they took names from Hollywood movies—New Jack, Black Wolves, Kung Fu Klan – or regional references – Versaille, Baghdad or 1210. Their attacks grew bolder and more reckless. Over time, a common identity emerged among the gang members, with blood and ethnicity tying many of them together, coupled with tribal tendencies that stoked inter-gang feuds.
Following the 2008 financial crisis, a third wave of gang violence was fuelled by the proliferation of military-grade firearms. Powerful gangs such as ‘Peterbos’ evolved, adopting a ruthless model to protect significant revenues from narcotics that others quickly copied. Kalashnikov-style rifles flooded the illegal firearms market, smuggled in from the former Yugoslavia, war-torn regions, and Turkey. With time, gang affiliation shifted from an emphasis on shared ethnicity or culture to one based on neighbourhood identity and territorial loyalty. Members were increasingly childhood acquaintances and neighbours rather than blood relatives.
Much ado about impunity
Needless to say, the proliferation of military-grade rifles, combined with the 2015-2016 terrorist attacks, triggered a public outcry, prompting policy and policing shifts in how illegal firearms were treated over the next decade. Some gangs were weakened by arrests or ageing members while others adapted, forcing authorities to focus on “hotspots” – fifteen designated areas covering over sixty gangs. Ironically, as these zones saw increased police presence, they also became prime recruiting grounds, pulling in vulnerable youths and school dropouts and escalating turf wars.
Resources were poured into crime prevention, with lagging enforcement. To make matters worse, the justice and incarceration system came under immense pressure, resulting in lenient sentencing and widespread impunity. In short, public safety measures fell short.
Fast forward to today, where Brussels’ new young prosecutor Julien Moinil—nicknamed “Batman”—has vowed to change that, prioritising the enforcement of convictions.
All is not lost
Not all is as bleak as it seems, though. Despite rising gang violence, Brussels does not have “no-go zones”. Some areas have even seen a reduction in overall crime, thanks to the efforts of local authorities.
The police zone of Uccle-Boiforts-Auderghem reduced crime from 13,225 incidents in 2012 to 12,074 in 2023, while the Montgomery zone saw a drop from 12,387 cases to 10,668.
But despite these improvements, drug-related crimes have surged, fueling the public sense of insecurity. And the numbers tell a chilling story – 56 shootings and 3 deaths in 2022, 62 shootings and 4 deaths in 2023, and 92 shootings and 9 deaths in 2024.
This escalation is at the heart of the crisis – businesses suffer, communities erode, and Brussels continues to slip in global safety rankings.
With great power come great solutions
Solutions exist. Even cities once plagued by extreme violence have turned the tide through bold reforms.
Take "Operation Ceasefire", a strategy focused on deterring and interrupting violence. It has transformed crime-ridden cities like Chicago and Boston. Or consider Medellín, where civic engagement, urban transformation, and infrastructure investment radically improved security in the most violent city in the world at the time.
Brussels is not beyond saving. But time is running out. Shakespearean tragedies always end in death and destruction. But Brussels’ story can be different.
For even the site of the shootings this month is an allegory that shouldn’t be ignored—the Clemenceau metro station bears the name of a French statesman who had a determining role in ending World War I. George Clemenceau’s unwavering resolve reminds us that even the darkest times can be met with determination and action.
And so yes, hope remains for a Brussels where gains triumph over gangs. Where promise overcomes peril. But only if bold steps are taken now, before the city again succumbs to a legacy as a dangerous city.
