Terror threat: Couple marries in Brussels as city enters second day of lockdown

Terror threat: Couple marries in Brussels as city enters second day of lockdown

RESIDENTS of Brussels woke to largely empty streets as the city entered its second day under the highest threat level.

With a menace of Paris-style attacks against the Belgian capital and a missing suspect in the deadly Nov. 13 attacks in France last spotted crossing into Belgium,the city kept subways, sports competitions, malls and commercial centres closed over fears of an attack.

Yet amid the panic, a young couple have captured hearts across the world after an image emerged capturing the immense scene of the military lockdown in the historic city.

The couple — Greek-Flemish newlyweds — were posing for a photographer outside a church and guarded by two heavily-armed soldiers when Joris Marseille spotted the proceedings and snapped his own image.

It didn’t take long before the image went global, proving that love flourishes amid fear.Several of the Paris attackers had lived in Brussels, including suspected mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was killed in a standoff with French police on Wednesday.

Salah Abdeslam, another suspected attacker, is at large and is known to have crossed into Belgium the morning after the attacks.

Bernard Clerfayt, mayor of the Brussels suburb of Schaerbeek, told Belgian media that the Belgian capital was still under a grave threat. He said as long as this threat was present, it was essential to remain very vigilant.

The city’s metro system and public buildings were closed over the weekend, with shops and restaurants following suit after the terror alert was raised to the highest level of four because of what officials said was an “imminent threat.”

Interior Minister Jan Jambon said the authorities were looking not just for Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam, who managed to slip past French security forces after the carnage in the City of Light. He warned that the capture of Abdeslam, a Belgian-born 26-year-old whose brother blew himself up at a cafe in Paris, would not in itself end the threat.

A closed movie theatre in Brussels. Picture: John ThysSource:AFP

The UN Security Council on Friday authorised nations to “take all necessary measures” to fight IS jihadists after a wave of attacks, including the downing of aRussian aircraft in Egypt with the loss of 224 lives and the storming of a luxury hotel in Mali which left 19 dead.

In all, seven attackers died in Paris.

The European Union agreed Friday to rush through reforms to the passport-free Schengen zone.

With the world on edge over the jihadist threat, US President Barack Obama said the most powerful tool to fight the terror of the Islamic State extremist group was to say “that we are not afraid”. In Paris, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said a chemical or biological attack “was among the risks” but that all possible precautions had been taken.

Tensions have been high in Europe since the attacks in Paris. France has extended a state of emergency — which allows police raids, searches and house arrest without permission from a judge — for three months, and on Saturday extended a ban on demonstrations and other gatherings through Nov. 30, when a U.N. climate conference with more than 100 heads of state is scheduled to start.