Thousands of students deprived of school after bomb threats

The closures affect around 10,000 students, according to the network that manages the educational establishments.

Around thirty schools remained closed in French-speaking Belgium on Monday, November 27, due to bomb threats. The emails concerned also mention a ransom demand, announced the Wallonia-Brussels Education (WBE) network which manages these teaching places. Around 10,000 students are affected by these closures, according to a WBE estimate. They were decided in schools, middle and high schools in Brussels and the province of Walloon Brabant, south of the capital.

“Last night, we were informed by several of our head teachers that they had just received a threatening email”, explained on RTBF Julien Nicaise, general administrator of WBE. The email mentioned a possible use of“explosives if we don’t pay a ransom”. The French-speaking public education service justified the day of closure with a “strict compliance with the precautionary principle”. Most parents have been warned by establishments that they must keep their children at home on Monday.

“Multiplication of this type of alerts”

“WBE is in contact with the competent authorities, the situation is subject to constant evaluation. Several sites have already been verified or are being verified. The situation will be reassessed during the day”, also indicated the network on its site. At the beginning of November, upon returning from the All Saints’ Day holidays, two schools had already been evacuated in Charleroi and Dinant, in Wallonia, following bomb threats received by email. No explosive device had been discovered. The WBE network deplored Monday “the multiplication of this type of alerts in recent weeks and the difficulties they cause”.

In France, nearly 800 false bomb threats were recorded in schools between the start of the school year in September and mid-November, according to the Secretary of State for Youth. They have multiplied since the jihadist attack which cost the life of a teacher on October 13 in Arras (northern France), both in schools, airports and large monuments welcoming tourists.