Brussels is in lockdown tonight after the terror alert in the Belgian capital was upgraded to its highest level. Metro stations and businesses have closed amid fears of a Paris-style attack.
Throughout the day, heavily armed soldiers and police patrolled the streets of the Belgian capital after the government upgraded the terror threat to it's highest level.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is advising Irish citizens who are in or who intend traveling to Brussels to exercise extreme caution and to avoid public events.
The terror alert in the Belgian capital will remain in place until at least tomorrow afternoon when the threat level will be reviewed.
Brussels was placed on the top level ‘four’ in the government's threat scale after a meeting of police, justice and intelligence officials.
Soldiers were on guard in parts of Brussels, a city of 1.2 million people and home to institutions of the European Union and the headquarters of NATO.
"The result of relatively precise information pointed to the risk of an attack along the lines of what took take place in Paris," Prime Minister Charles Michel told a news conference after a meeting of the national security council.
The Paris attacks last week left 130 people dead.
"We are talking about the threat that several individuals with arms and explosives would launch an attack perhaps in several locations at the same time," Mr Michel said, adding people should be alert but not panic.
The metro system is to remain closed until tomorrow afternoon, in line with recommendations from the government's crisis centre.
Shopping centres, cinemas, concert venues all shutting down around Brussels.
— Tony Connelly (@tconnellyRTE) November 21, 2015
Major shopping centres and stores did open this morning, with soldiers deployed outside shops. However, many began closing their doors from around midday.
The crisis centre advised the public to avoid places with crowds, such as shopping centres, concerts, sports events or public transport hubs.
The city's museums and many cinemas and sports centres were shut, on separate orders from the city's 19 different local mayors.
Clubs and venues cancelled events, including a planned concert of veteran French rock singer Johnny Hallyday.
The agency has called on local authorities to postpone soccer matches, although most games in the top two divisions were set to go ahead.
Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said that 1,000 troops were now available for patrols, double the level of a week earlier.
Belgium at heart of Paris attack probe
Belgium has been at the heart of investigations into the Paris attacks after the links to Brussels, and the poor district of Molenbeek in particular, emerged.
Fugitive suspected militant Salah Abdeslam, 26, slipped back home to Brussels from Paris shortly after the attacks, in which his elder brother Brahim blew himself up at a cafe.
Fears of the risks he still poses prompted the cancellation last week of an international friendly soccer match in Brussels against Spain.
A second man from Molenbeek, Bilal Hadfi, was also among the Paris suicide bombers.
Three people detained in Brussels are now facing terrorism charges. Federal prosecutors said today that weapons had been found at the home of a person charged yesterday.
Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon told reporters he wanted a register of everyone living in Molenbeek because it was not clear at present who was at each address, a process local officials had already started.
EU interior and justice ministers in Brussels yesterday pledged solidarity with France and agreed a series of new measures on surveillance, border checks and gun control.
French authorities have said the attacks were planned in Brussels by a local man, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 28, who fought for IS in Syria and was killed in a police siege of an apartment in the Paris suburb of Saint Denis on Wednesday.
Abaaoud's fingerprints were found on one of three AK47 assault rifles in a car left in eastern Paris, a source close to the investigation said, though it was not clear if he took part in the attacks or had just handled the weapon at some point.
The last time any part of Belgium was put on maximum alert was in May 2014 when an Islamist gunman shot dead four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels. At that time, Jewish schools, synagogues and other institutions were put on level four.
Meanwhile, Turkish police have arrested a Belgian man of Moroccan origin on suspicion of having scouted out the Paris target sites.
