Attack planned in Brussels
Man wants to go to a concert with liters of gasoline
December 18, 2023, 12:33 a.m
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15,000 people flock to the Congolese musician Fally Ipupa’s concert in Brussels on Saturday evening. At the entrance to the event hall, a man is noticed who has several bottles of gasoline with him. He is said to belong to a Congolese protest movement.
Brussels police arrested a man on Saturday evening who is said to have planned an attack on a concert by a Congolese artist in the Belgian capital. The Brussels public prosecutor’s office confirmed corresponding reports from several media outlets.
The man was checked at the entrance to the ING Arena concert hall around 5:30 p.m., said public prosecutor’s spokesman Willemien Baert. “He is said to have told a concert-goer that he wanted to set his car on fire.” He had four half-liter bottles filled with gasoline, two lighters and matches with him. The police then arrested and interrogated the 53-year-old man of Congolese origin, Baert continued. The examining judge released him under conditions.
Investigators suspect a political motive behind the allegedly planned attack. According to the Flemish newspaper “Het Nieuwsblad”, the man is said to belong to the protest movement “Combattants Congolais”, which was originally founded by Congolese in France to oppose the policies of the former President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila. Congolese singer, guitarist and composer Fally Ipupa, whom the group accuses of being close to the current president of Congo, performed at the ING Arena on Saturday evening. When the musician performed in Paris in 2020, there were riots and over 50 people were taken into custody.
As “Het Nieuwsblad” reports, several members of the “Combattants Congolais” gathered before the concert in Brussels. Ipupa performed in front of around 15,000 spectators.