Residents in Brussels wake up to loss, horror and heavy military presence in their city
A day after terror attacks left 34 people dead in Brussels, residents are coming to terms with a new reality in their city.
On Wednesday morning, people hustled to work in the European quarter where the blasts at Maelbeek station left the most devastation, with at least 20 people dead and dozens more injured at that location alone.
Heavily armed police and soldiers in military fatigues stood guard at key intersections around Brussels, with streets blocked by security gates.
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Police were stationed around Bourse Square, which has become the de facto meeting place for mourners looking to pay respects to the victims.
Despite the heavy military presence, Brussels residents went about their morning under overcast skies, grabbing coffees in cafes and reading newspapers with front pages dominated by reminders of the attacks, with headlines like “War” and "The Horror."
"I feel terribly sad," said Marie Roberte, who was cycling to work with crowds of other commuters. "I don’t know how this will end. I think we will face some difficult times now."
The sentiment comes even as investigators are still piecing what happened.
Belgian Federal Prosecutor announced during a press conference Wednesday morning that two Brussels-based brothers, Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui were involved in the attacks.
One suspect who took part in the attack and remains unidentified is still on the run.
Roberte said she is scared but that residents have no choice but to continue their everyday lives.
"We won’t stop living just because of this," said Roberte. "Life goes on and it's sad. But the best thing we can do is move on and talk with people. We have to be strong together. Unity -- that's the most important thing."
Some struggled to find alternative routes to work on Wednesday. The metro lines in the city were still partially down, particularly in the area near the European City. But elsewhere in the city, trains were once again running.
Commuters near Maelbeek looked warily at the police cordons around the station where investigations were still underway. Outside, a white police tent and barriers blocked the view from the street.
Across town in the iconic Grand Place, handfuls of tourists quietly milled about. Small pockets of Spanish speakers followed a tour guide through the picturesque square, while others posed for photos in front of the historic buildings.
Greek residents Constantine Kalentis and Roi Antonopolou were visiting the European Parliament on Tuesday when news of the attacks broke. They had arrived with a delegation from Olympia to discuss the upcoming Rio Summer Olympics Games.
On Wednesday, they toured the Grand Place as their delegation tried to figure out how they would travel home with flights still suspended.
"We felt terrible, very awful for all of those people," Antonopolou.
She thinks it's important that the European Union take a firm approach to combatting violent extremism, and believes the attack hit at the core of what the European Union stands for.
“They want to destroy democracy, and destroy the European Union and the principles values and ideas that the European Union wants to promote.”
“They want to destroy democracy, and destroy the European Union and the principles values and ideas that the European Union wants to promote,” Antonopolou said. "If Europe doesn’t do anything at this time, maybe they [extremists] will be able to do it.
Kalentis agreed that being in the capital of the European Union at the moment it came under attack put the issue of global terror into perspective for him.
"It's a surreal feeling to be in the center of the European Union and have a terror attack,” he said.
But he believes that surveillance and military response isn't the way forward.
"Change comes from within,” Kalentis said.
At noon, a moment of silence was held across the city. Some of the tourists seemed to understand what was going on when the clocks struck 12 but other continued snapping selfies, unaware of the moment.
In nearby Bourse Square, hundreds gathered and bowed their heads to honor the victims.
Sara Khalid, a Muslim woman who has lived in Brussels for decades and who has raised her kids here, was among the crowd.
The attacks struck close to home, as her daughter takes the metro to school everyday.
"I put myself in the place of the families who have lost someone and I am so sad, I can’t even imagine this happened," Khalid said. "We came here to show we are together with all the families who have lost someone."
She said before Tuesday’s attacks she felt safe in Belgium, which is part of the reason she and her family moved here in the first place.
"We must not let these attacks end us, and we must all stand together,” said Khalid.
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Megan Specia was Mashable's Assistant Real-Time News Editor and joined the team in September 2014. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism & Mass Communications from the University of New Hampshire after growing up in the Jersey 'burbs. She made her way to New York via a four year stopover in Dublin. Megan previously worked as a journalist and editor at Storyful in both Dublin and New York. Before all of that, though, her claim to fame was as head cake arranger and purveyor of all things sweet at Queen of Tarts cafe in Dublin, where she developed a serious addiction to macarons.
