41% feel unsafe in metro stations A survey carried out by the consumers association Test-Aankoop has found that 41% of passengers dont feel safe in Brussels metro station after 7pm. Test-Aankoop questioned 3,300 passengers of the Brussels public transport company MIVB, the Flemish public transport company De Lijn and the Walloon public transport company TEC. In Brussels, punctuality and security were the main concerns expressed by those questioned. Four out of ten MIVB customers said that they dont feel safe while waiting for the metro in the evening. Meanwhile, the capitals bus passengers complained about the punctuality of bus services and the lack of seating inside busses. However, most customers were sastified with the service information provided by MIVB and the level of fares charged by the Brussels public transport company. Belga Almost a third of those using public transport in Brussels dont feel safe on the capitals trams, busses and metro services after 7pm. This compares to 20% of passengers using services operated by the Walloon public transport company TEC and 12% of passengers that use the busses and trams operated by the Flemish public transport company De Lijn. MIVB most punctual The Brussels metro scores best when it comes to punctuality. Buses and trams have a tendency to get stuck in the traffic. The Brussels public transport company MIVB scores best in the punctuality stakes. 30% of its passengers complain of services being late, compared to 35% of De Lijns customers and 38% of customers of TEC. Too much noise, too few seats As regards passenger comfort, MIVB scores much worse than De Lijn and TEC. Passenger complain of a lack of seating and excess noise level inside the companys vehicles. Overall, the Flemish public transport company scored the best with a customer satisfaction level of 70 out of 100. MIVB came bottom with 66 points. TEC customers gave it 67 points out of 100. http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/news/111125_Public_Transport I wonder who they are afraid of? 41% of a population in fear spells real widespread trouble. _ _
True, I don't feel safe in Brussels generally speaking. Although the problem, especially with the metro, has to do with political problems. Brussels always needs money -- the only ones that actually has money is we here in Flanders. We like to help out, since it's our capital too -- although Flemings are the minority we are "guarenteed" a certain amount of seats in the Brussels Parliament. Problem is, however, that police matters are still the hands of the single towns that make-up the Brussels region. It used to be that way all over Belgium -- the mayor was the head of police and the fire departments, that changed at the end of the 1990's with the big "Police Reform" as a response to the Dutroux affaire that shooked Belgium at her core, e.g. my town police department mergered with 4 other towns to create a bigger police zone, so now our police zone serves around 100,000 people. In Brussels, the reforms didn't took place. All of the mayors in these towns are from Francophone political parties and don't want to create "one big police zone" to manage public safety because that would mean they need to share power with the Brussels Parliament where Flemings are guaranteed a certain amount of votes. Flanders only wants to give money when it knows it will be used in an efficient way -- meaining: "if you don't create a big police zone you ain't going to get any money from us".
True, although the biggest majority of immigrants in Brussels are actually from EU. Problem here lies with Walloon political parties, all Flemish parties are more on the right regarding immigration. Rightfully so.
We all know the real reason passengers are concerned about their safety. But many of us refuse to see or will not admit it. The word "biggotry" actually means closed-mindedness. Think about that.
[DISTURBING IMAGES] 1° Young man of 23 y.o., an exchange student from Bulgaria, gets hasseled by youths and then thrown on the tracks. The young man in blind and deaf on the left eye and ear. All "suspects" were minors and were cleared from charges a month ago -- outrage in Belgium because of that. The quality of the security footage was not good enough according to the Youth Judge -- you can judge for yourself: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kQIoPOO2tw"]Agression In Metro Of Brussels[/ame] 2° [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WzFjCQ0xzw&NR=1"]Daniel Fountayne -- Brain-dead[/ame]
They should try profiling. In this case, arm some citizens and let the criminals profile their victims to determine whether they have a gun or not. If the criminals are wrong, they're dead. It's a win-win.
Rather than fight back, I think they would prefer to play the odds like herd animals. The weak and the sick will be taken by the predators as Jan's videos show.
That's fine. If they're not willing to fight back, I have no trouble watching sheep get slaughtered. Lamb chops have to come from somewhere. Truth be told, I do not protect my life and property with anyone else in mind. I only try to make myself an unlikely target so criminals will pass me by for easier prey. I respect someone's right to be a traget.
I myself have lived in Brussels for 18 years. I used to take the metro pretty much every day throughout the second part of my youth. Now I'm not going to deny that the metro doesn't feel safe. Ofcourse there are shady people, ofcourse some will rob or physically assault you if they get the chance to. However, I don't think this is an isolated problem only related to the Brussels metro. Another aspect I'd like to emphasize on this survey is the purpose of it. The organization asked people how they felt. People often have a skewed opinion on this matter due to one or two events (such as the videos posted). It influences may people's point of view. When in reality the odds of really being robbed or attacked are still comfortingly low. I used to go out for a drink every weekend pretty much in Brussels, I would always take the metro to go anywhere, after 7 in during the weekend (friday evening included). And from experience I can tell that the Brussels metro is NOT an unsafe area. People simply feel unsafe, sadly because a lot of international friction is bound to create a sense of paranoia. And let's be honoust, would you not rather be paranoid and safe than oblivious and naive?
Nowhere in the survey was race or religion mentioned but the usual suspects are making the futile attempt to pervert it to their anal cause.
Brussels, Civilized E.U. Capital, Rattled by Crime Wave Tuesday, June 08, 2010 On a crisp, sunny morning last week, a man strolled into a Brussels courtroom, pulled out a 7.65-mm pistol and shot both the judge and a court clerk in the head before fleeing. The double killing stunned the country, which prides itself on a cozy, tranquil way of life. Bewildered judges and lawyers described the incident as "disgusting," "unacceptable" and "an assassination of justice itself." Government ministers pledged to step up security around the courts, while the Belgian media echoed the outrage. "An attack on a judge is an attack on all of us," said the daily newspaper De Morgan. The Brussels police arrested the alleged killer, Abdollazim Fathi Valmi, a 47-year-old homeless man originally from Iran, who promptly confessed that he was taking revenge because the judge, Isabelle Brandon, had him evicted three years ago. And though Belgians may be tempted to dismiss the episode as an isolated case involving a disturbed individual, it has dramatized a run of violent incidents that have Belgians and non-Belgians alike concerned about a collapse of law and order in both Brussels and the country. (See what's behind America's falling crime rate.) Brussels still has one of the lowest homicide rates among European cities. But that is little consolation to a country shaken by shootings, riots and prison breaks. "Brussels is not Durban, Mexico City or even Chicago," says Dirk Jacobs, a sociology professor at Brussels Free University. "But it is clear that the city — and the country at large — is confronted with unprecedented social problems, and policymakers seem to be spending their energy on other topics." It is a matter of diplomatic concern because Brussels serves not only as the capital of the nation but as the home of most of the European Union's institutions. In March, the president of the European Parliament demanded that Belgium provide special security around the E.U. institutions after a series of mugging incidents involving MPs. Brussels has given a fair impression of lawlessness in recent weeks. Jewelry-store robberies have left three dead, including a mother of three who was driving when the thieves tried to seize her Renault. Just last year, a series of high-profile prison breaks embarrassed the Belgian state, including one spectacular escape that sprung three gangsters from a Brugge prison yard with a hijacked helicopter. A riot in another prison was so violent that it triggered a strike by the country's entire jail staff. Prisons are woefully antiquated and overcrowded: they creak with about 10,000 inmates, some 2,000 above official capacity. Indeed, earlier this year, a group of Belgian prisoners started serving time across the border in the Netherlands, as the government began renting Dutch jail cells. (See how Belgium is moving toward Europe's first burqa ban.) "Public opinion is not used to this," says Marc Hooghe, a professor of political science at the Catholic University of Leuven. "We think of ourselves as a nice small, friendly place where these kind of things don't happen." The violence is blamed partly on the influx of cheap weapons into the country in recent years: Kalashnikovs, unknown in Brussels until recently, are now relatively easy to obtain on the black market and have helped spur a nascent drug trade. Then there is the poverty gap: although Brussels is one of Europe's richest cities, there are pockets of deprivation. Particularly vulnerable are the city's large foreign-born communities, members of which often feel trapped in a downward cycle of poor education and low social mobility. More than 30% of the population is foreign-born, concentrated on the north and west side of the city, in the Molenbeek, Saint-Josse and Schaerbeek communes. Last September, the arrest of a 14-year-old boy sparked a full-scale riot in the rundown district of Molenbeek, with police coming under attack from people throwing stones and Molotov cocktails, while cars in the area were torched. The rioters were dominated by Moroccan-origin immigrants who claimed they were being persecuted. Police said many of the attacks were orchestrated by drug dealers intent on creating no-go zones. There have been a number of similar incidents since. "Many of the tensions are rooted in wealth disparities," says Marco Martiniello, director of the Center for Ethnic and Migration Studies. "Many feel the legal systems are not there to help them but to oppress them. And the economic downturn has fueled this desperation: sometimes, if you feel you cannot get ahead through hard work, you try other means." But the country's institutions also bear responsibility for the surging violence. Brussels' courts are the most visible sign of the crumbling criminal-justice system. The imposing neo-Baroque Palace of Justice, completed almost 130 years ago, was the world's biggest building in the 19th century. The edifice — under scaffolding for the past decade — has no fewer than 44 entrances, and minimal security is in place. Last year, when three handcuffed defendants from an armed robbery and kidnapping case were led into a courtroom, they were intercepted and freed by armed, masked men. (The escapees have since been re-apprehended.) Jacobs of Brussels Free University blames the degradation of security on the tensions between Belgium's French- and Dutch-speaking communities, which have fattened budgets for their respective regions while starving federal institutions. This has left police under-resourced, prisons obsolete and courthouses lacking security, with a rudimentary computerization of the entire legal system. "The linguistic struggle between the two main communities has led more or less to a standstill in federal policymaking," Jacobs says. As a result, "Belgium has a 19th century criminal-justice system." Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1994744,00.html#ixzz1f9ZLmqOX http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1994744,00.html It would seem that multiculturalism is causing some problem in Belgium. You usually hear about France or the UK's woes. Norway and Sweden are having similar problems with their Muslims populations. The division between factions in Belgium appears to be hampering a response. _
Perhals we could take a look at what happened at the area where the subways are located and the city in general, shall we?
The root of the probem is mainly socio-economic with cultural aspects tied to it. Socio-economic, since Brussels is a strange city -- at the same time it is one of the most expensive cities of the EU and one of the poorest in the sense it has to receive a lot of money from Flanders to keep it alive... Cultural, since a large portion of Brussels' population are immigrants. I don't have anything against immigrants perse, but it can not be denied that there are large differences between, for example, an immigrant family from Belarus and a family from Somalia. The Belarusian family will try to do anything in her power to advance a better future for the children and will hold themselves accountable, e.g. the father will go working full-time and the mother will take up a part-time job to bring some money, whilst at the same time try to focus on the children: walk them to school, pick them up from school, set them at the table to make their homework, etc. A Somalian family, also will try to do anything in their power to advance a better future for their children -- but "Insha'Allah" -- they trust on God's will. It's not because they are Muslim they are socio-economically disadvantaged, it's because "religion" at large plays a rather large roll in their lives. If something doesn't go as well they expected it would, it's because God wanted it that way -- the "blame" is basically out-sourced. Hence, a lot of children of mainly islamic families wonder the streets with to parental control because that was how the parents grew up themselves and because they trust in God's will: if God wants something bad to happen, it will; if God wants something good to happen, it will -- they feel they can do little about it anyways. Sure, the area were I live -- which has more resources than the Greater Brussels region -- that wouldn't be much of a problem since the Flemish government, like many other Europeans countries, has a "Minister Of Youth". In co-ordination with city councils, town boards, etc. -- there is a lot to do for youngsters in Flanders. In my town alone (20,000 in population) there are about 5 "Youth Houses" that are for a large part funded with public money. They organize all sorts of stuff and they have an open café, provide information on all sorts of things, and have top-notch infrastructure and equipment that serve the entire community at large: e.g. if you hold a mega BBQ you can go to one of these youth centres and borrow big tents and all the equipment you can imagine. You can also borrow stuff like enormous big TVs, media projectors, turntables, lighting, playstations, tables and chairs, cutlery, outdoor heating systems, etc... You of course need to return them in a matter of 2 to 3 days -- after the event you hold is over. If something is broken you ofcourse need to repay it too, but in general the entire "service" is free. Also, for example, during summer -- the youth houses always set-up a so-called "summer bar" where youngsters can meet-up. What I'm trying to say is that I'm sure that Brussels has some nice sides, but I wouldn't never live there -- even forced at gunpoint!
