Interview: Brussels official urges to stop promotion of violent radicalism

Francoise Schepmans, the mayor of the Molenbeek district of Brussels, recently told Xinhua that people have to block all the nets, people and places encouraging violent extremism.

"The dismantling of the main terrorist cell was crucial but probably there are still some radical militants on the field which are not related to this specific group so we have to stay vigilant," Schepmans told Xinhua in an exclusive interview about the fatal attacks in Brussels.

Belgian police arrested Salah Abdeslam after a four-month-long manhunt, a prime terror suspect wanted for the November 2015 Paris attacks, from his home neighborhood of Molenbeek, an inner city district of Brussels.

The mayor highlighted some initiatives she took to fight terrorism.

She said that in Molenbeek starting from January 2016, they had adopted some security measures and asked for police enforcement for the district, now people have 50 new policemen doing nearby controls in the area.

"We also developed an administrative procedure to better identify in my neighborhood those areas where it is possible to develop radicalism," she said.

"We prepare and train tutors, teachers, and district operators on socio-cultural matters," she added.

The mayor stressed the role of prevention to fight radicalism.

She said that "we have first to put in place new projects for young people involving parents; we have to make feel parents responsible. Sometimes there are 'weak' youngsters having personal problems, at school or at home who are influenced by some predicators, it's important to bring them back to normal life."

"District police is very important because they know the area and the people," Schepmans said.

Asked about the EU's role in fighting against terrorism, the mayor said that "first, we have to protect our borders, most people involved in the terrorist attacks in Brussels were about to travel to Syria, certain people known by Interpol and Europol are not impeded to tour around Europe."

She also added that the EU was not able to take adequate measures about the current challenges on terrorism.

"Now the EU passenger register, like many others, can be a good measure but we have to understand that this crisis is an important test to see if Europe have still a meaning to be as it is now," she said.

The mayor thought that people have to enhance security in the metro and train stations, saying that "it would be interesting to have some metal detectors even if we know that it will be expensive and time consuming." Endit