This is heartbreaking — my thoughts are with the families, the elderly neighbours and small business owners like Salvatore who are living in fear. The violence described in Brussels is real and terrifying, and it’s right that police are trying to keep people safe. But as the police chief himself says, there is no magic solution and repression alone won’t fix this. We need a two-track approach: robust, intelligence-led action against the criminal networks and the guns and money that fuel them — including cross-border cooperation, anti-money‑laundering measures and targeting kingpins — alongside major investment in prevention, treatment and livelihoods. Young people being paid a few hundred euros to carry out shootings are victims of poverty, exclusion and a blank future; throwing them into harsher criminal justice pipelines won’t stop recruitment. Fund violence-interruption teams, youth jobs and apprenticeship schemes, housing supports, addiction treatment and safe-consumption services. Give communities trauma care, compensation and real policing oversight so people feel protected, not policed. Europe must also tackle the supply chain: ports, organised smuggling and the flow of weapons. But long-term safety comes from addressing inequality and providing alternatives — that’s the only way to make neighbourhoods like St Gilles livable again. Politicians: stop posturing and put resources where they matter.