A wave of drug-related violence has descended on the Flemish city of Antwerp. After multiple explosions in the Borgerhout district and two shootings—during one of which a man was seriously injured—this month alone, Right populist party Vlaams Belang has demanded military intervention.
The port city of Antwerp, already known as Europe’s ‘cocaine capital’, has fast become a place where drug cartels and their proxies work out their spats. The past two months have proven to be especially eventful, per a list by state media outlet VRT NWS:
August 18th: shooting near Antwerp-Central station
August 16th: man seriously injured in shooting in Hoboken
August 15th: suspicious death on De Coninckplein
August 11th: explosion in Borgerhout
August 9th: explosion in Borgerhout
August 8th: explosion in Borgerhout
August 4th: explosion in center of Antwerp
August 4th: explosion in Deurne
August 3rd: car set on fire in Berchem
July 18th: firebombing of front of previously targeted snack bar in Borgerhout
July 17th: explosion in Berchem
July 15th: liquidation of Dutch drug criminal in Deurne
July 14th: house shot at in Ekeren
July 12th: arson in Borgerhout
July 8th: shooting at front of snack bar at Stenenbrug in Borgerhout
July 7th: explosion in Deurne
July 5th: house shot at in Borgerhout
July 5th: house shot at in Borsbeek
July 3rd: house shot at in Borgerhout
July 1st: house shot at in Borgerhout
The latest shooting, this time adjacent to Antwerp’s historic train station, again rocked the city on Wednesday night. Several shots were fired while two suspects have been arrested in the meantime. Fortunately, no one was injured, but the fact this incident took place in the very heart of the city points to the perpetrators’ increasing brashness.
Wary of further escalation, Vlaams Belang is therefore reiterating its call for drastic measures. In a press release published the next day, the party called for an emergency meeting by the Interior Committee.
Blaming Federal Minister of the Interior Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) and Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA) for not ensuring the end to drug violence, Chairman of that same committee Ortwin Depoortere (VB) stated that “enough is enough.” According to him, if they do not do it, then he will. “Both the mayor of Antwerp and the Minister of the Interior are avoiding their responsibility and continue to play political games,” said Depoortere, who is also a member of the Flemish Parliament. “If they do not want to take their responsibility, we will … the safety of our people is a priority,” he added.
Depoortere now seeks an early convening of the Interior Committee, but has specific ideas in mind regarding its outcome.
After repeated incidents of violence, including a murder and an attempted murder, the military has to be called in again to protect the known streets and neighborhoods [such as in the district of Borgerhout] that are causing problems. If you look at the violence escalating, the caliber of weapons used, you can no longer deny that the drug mafia is fighting a war in the streets of Antwerp. As far as I am concerned, playtime is over.
Speaking of a “crisis situation” for the city’s security, he and his party see the need for a special military operation, coined ‘Operation Hades.’ This would be analogous to 2015’s Operation Vigilant Guardian, a six-year mission during which the Belgian army provided additional security after terror attacks rocked Europe. “The law allows for a request for assistance from military personnel in crisis situations,” says Depoortere. “It is all hands on deck now.”
Defending this renewed expansion of the military’s role, Depoortere made a “simple” proposal: “Do we, as a government, allow the organized mafia to make the city unsafe? Do we wait until something happens to an innocent victim in the center of Antwerp? Or do we, as a government, take back the streets ourselves, bare our teeth and put a stop to the drug mafia?”
Trying to enlist the Belgian military, however, means trudging through the quagmire that is Belgian politics. Such an allocation of military resources needs approval on the federal level, which means that Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) should play a key role in extracting it.
Recently, Verlinden had made efforts towards such an arrangement. She had proposed a bill that would allow city administrations to call on the military should criminal activities overwhelm regular law enforcement; yet, she was subsequently vetoed by the French-speaking part of the government. For now, the parties involved remain tight-lipped about who exactly is impeding progress on the matter.
Meanwhile, it is business as usual in Antwerp.
In a somewhat ironic snippet from a television broadcast reporting on the latest shooting, what seemed to be a drug deal was unfolding.
What is clear is that the ‘war on drugs,’ seemingly forever raging on Antwerp’s streets, is by no means near its end.
