BRUSSELS—After a four-day shutdown prompted by a threat alert across Brussels, schools are reopening their doors with the help of beefed up security, including police armed with machine guns.
Though the Belgian capital continues to be under the highest-level threat alert, meaning that an attack is serious and imminent, schools and subways began reopening across the city on Wednesday. That is restoring a sense of normality to the city, parts of which have been deserted since the alert was first raised to the top level in the capital on Saturday.
The threat level is expected to be in place until at least Monday unless there are significant developments, like the capturing of suspects linked to the Paris attacks on Nov. 13.
At Brussels’ College Saint-Jean-Berchmans, some parents gave their children a quick kiss before dropping them off, while several police officers guarded the entrance, including one with a visible machine gun. Among the students at the school is Belgium’s Princess Eleonore.
“I’m concerned, but I think that life must go on,” said Dimitri De Cra Yencour, a father of four. “Even if something happens in Paris or in Brussels, they have to go back to school,” he said, adding he had instructed his children be extra attentive and to tell their teachers if they saw anything unusual.
