Terrorist threat blared across digital sign at European Parliament

Belgium’s Co-ordination Unit for Threat Analysis (Cuta) are looking into a cryptic message that was left on a digital message board yesterday at the European parliament. The message read: “Bruselas will be attacked tomorrow at 6:00pm in Grand Place by a guy with a neon shirt”.

‘Bruselas’ is Spanish for ‘Brussels’, and the message was signed with ‘Abulah Hakimi’. Tonight is the first of the two Ommegang spectacles in the Grand Place. The annual event is the re-enactment of the festivities staged for Charles V’s entry to the city in 1549. Several thousand people will be seated in Grand Place for the event.

Visitors to parliament are allowed to post messages to the digital board on Rue Wiertz. Security footage is now being viewed to see if the person who typed in the message can be identified.

“Cuta is evaluating the threat,” said a spokesperson for the public prosecutor’s office. “But it’s very rare for terrorists to announce an attack.”

Still, police are taking extra precautions for the event. It goes without saying that anyone attending the Ommegang this evening should probably not wear a neon shirt.

Photo courtesy European Parliament/Twitter