Arrests Made In "High Voltage" Terror Sweeps in Belgium; & The Long Night of the Cats

There was a voluntary lockdown on media reportage and reports on social media, so as not to tip off terrorists, but now some information is being released.

Six terror suspects have been arrested and one wounded after co-ordinated police raids described as "high voltage" took place across the Belgium capital, Liege and Charleroi.

Residents in properties close to where police swooped were told to stay indoors and away from the windows.

Shots were exchanged between police and suspected Islamists in a night of high tension that was finally brought to an end at around 11pm UK time.

A press conference is being held at 11.30pm UK time giving details on the incident by the Belgian prosecutor.

Police and governments have asked for an embargo on Belgium's anti-terrorism raids, so as not to tip off the targets.

There is speculation that Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdesalam may have been caught or killed, but of course he might have been caught or killed. I don't know why it's worth mentioning that until there's something more.

People were advised to behave normally in these abnormal times.

This report from the Telegraph says that sixteen were arrested, and that Abdesalam got away: He was spotted passing a checkpoint heading for Germany.

Just between us girls, that sounds suspiciously over-detailed to me; I kinda think maybe it's disinformation, and that they did get him, but don't want his fellow murderers to know they're now compromised.

Meanwhile, given the blackout of information on the news and on social media, some people took to inventing their own news footage of the raids, chiefly with cat pictures and videos, of course:

A newspaper even used the substitute-cats-for-embargoed-footage meme for its front page:

posted by Ace at 08:25 PM

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