Several secondary schools in Namur, the capital of Wallonia, will be closed on Friday as a precaution. Severe threats have been made against schools in the city on social media. These appear to be linked to the unrest surrounding cuts in education in French-speaking Belgium.
Journalist at HLN
Source: RTL Info
Acting mayor Charlotte Bazelaire (Les Engagés) preaches caution and advises schools in Namur to remain closed on Friday as a precaution. There is no obligation. Several educational institutions would err on the side of caution and remain closed. Other schools are opening with extra safety measures. Elsewhere, it is left up to parents to keep their children at home if necessary.
“Not just on the street”
The mayor also advises parents not to let their children go out alone in the city on Friday: “To keep the peace.” Extra police are deployed in the streets and there are checks at school buildings. Some schools were already vandalized on Thursday.
“It’s very serious”
These are “very alarming threats,” says student Samuel from the University of Namur to ‘RTL Info’. “I’ve received very frightening screenshots of knife attacks at a high school. People are talking about attacking everyone and killing teachers. It’s very serious. Those photos are going around.”
In a group called ‘GTA 7 Namur’, messages are shared by people who claim they want to set school buildings on fire and use knives. “Worse than ISIS,” it sounds.
Police are actively searching for the source
‘RTL Info’ notes that the screenshots and messages cannot be independently verified. This is probably a far-reaching act of intimidation by ‘pranksters’. In any case, the authorities take the threats seriously and leave nothing to chance. “The police are actively investigating the source of the intimidation,” Bazelaire said.
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The authorities suspect that the threats are related to the unrest during protests against the cuts in French-language education.
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It is not clear why schools in Namur are specifically targeted. The student demonstrations in the city on Thursday, unlike in Brussels, were mostly peaceful. Fourteen teenagers were arrested. According to the police, these were troublemakers who had deliberately infiltrated the student protests with the aim of causing a riot.
