With five serious incidents in five days, drug-related violence has returned to the Brussels municipality of Saint-Gilles after a week of score-settling between rival drug gangs, leaving residents anxious.
The violence has been rooted in the streets around Place de Bethléem in Saint-Gilles, a known hotspot for drug dealing for decades and one of the community epicentres in the lower side of the municipality.
"Last week, we had Brad Pitt filming in the municipality, now we have a problem with bombings and shootings between dealers," Mayor of Saint-Gilles Jean Spinette (PS) told The Brussels Times on Thursday.
Rue de Bosnie was used for Pitt's new film last week, but since then, it has been the scene of two serious incidents.
While Spinette is thankful that there are no victims so far, he is calling out the "arseholes who come and trash the neighbourhood to make money."
Latest explosion incident
This week, Saint-Gilles has recorded five serious violent incidents involving explosions or shootings – mostly concentrated over 24 hours between last Sunday and Monday.
This includes an explosion on Rue de Métal (Sunday morning, 03:30), an explosion on Rue de Prague (Monday, 00:30), an explosion on Rue Combaz (Monday, 03:50), and lastly, a shooting on Rue Bosnie (Monday, 04:00).
On Thursday morning, the fourth explosion and fifth incident in total this week, was reported at the same address on Rue de Bosnie, targeted by the shooting last Monday.
"According to witnesses, there was an explosion around 02:25 this morning (16 April). Damage was found to windows and parked vehicles," spokesperson for the Brussels Fire Brigade, Walter Deriuew, told The Brussels Times on Thursday.
Ten vehicles were damaged by the huge blast, according to a statement by the Brussels Midi police zone released on Thursday. The type of explosive device is still to be determined, but no fire was found at the scene by firefighters when they arrived.
Timeline
The latest spate of violence began in the night between Saturday and Sunday. The very first incident was an explosion reported on the Rue du Metal at 03:30 from a firework explosion, which damaged a front door.
Later that night, residents reported hearing a loud blast on Rue de Prague at around 00:25 on Monday. The large explosion was followed by eyewitness accounts of a huge red fire glow which illuminated the nearby buildings.
Damage outside the house in Rue de Prague, Saint-Gilles. Credit: The Brussels Times
At the scene in the morning, the front door had visible damage from a blast, while the windows of the first floor had been blown out. Nearby cars and houses were also damaged.
"It appears that the fire, which was likely started deliberately given the traces of accelerant found at the scene, originated in a pile of rubbish," a Midi police spokesperson told The Brussels Times on Wednesday.
Unreported explosion
However, another unreported explosion took place that same night, on Monday morning, just a few streets away on Rue Gisbert Combaz. This street is known locally for its emblematic 1920s brutalist council estate.
Firefighters responded to a fire at 03:50 in the morning on Monday, 13 April, at Rue Gisbert Combaz, which was extinguished successfully, the Brussels Fire Brigade's Walter Derieuw confirmed to The Brussels Times on Thursday.
"The initial suspicion is that an incendiary object was thrown, but this is to be confirmed," Derieuw said. "There was mainly damage to the front door."
Map (split) of Saint-Gilles with red dots indicating violent incidents. Credit: Apple Maps
Only ten minutes later, at 04:00, another shooting was reported at the intersection between Rue de Bosnie and Chaussee de Forest, targeting the same house as on Wednesday night.
Three bullets hit the windows of the Aldeia Velha restaurant, but the intended target was believed to have been the nearby house on Rue de Bosnie.
Spinette speaks out
These incidents can be linked to an ongoing turf war between rival "crime families" based inside the municipality, who are attacking each other "for revenge or intimidation," according to the Mayor of Saint-Gilles.
"It’s a war between these different drug-dealing networks, and they want to attack the families and family houses of those involved," he said. "We are not sure that those targeted are people who are directly involved, but likely to be related to families that are."
Bombings outside houses of relatives of drug traffickers are very commonplace in the drug scene in Antwerp, and this model appears to have now been exported to Saint-Gilles, but with different people involved.
The only similarity is that both are linked to the Moroccan mafia, which plays a huge hand in the distribution of cocaine being smuggled into Europe through the Port of Antwerp.
Mayor of Saint-Gilles Jean Spinette pictured at the Quatre Saisons school in Bethleem place in Saint-Gilles, Brussels, after it was hit with bullets during a nearby drug shooting, Wednesday 08 October 2025. Credit: Belga / Eric Lalmand
"It’s a copy-paste system. It’s open-source software. They handle the distribution. They use the same techniques, the same channels. They keep themselves informed," Spinette explains. "No doubt, they're in contact with the same people. Then sometimes, some of those who have got rich become Instagram influencers in Dubai."
As seen with the violence from last year, the previous intimidatory technique was to shoot Kalashnikovs at rival dealers to seize their turf in public squares. Today, they are now targeting the houses of people known or related to the drug gangs for the same reason.
Family feuds
"There are five or six houses that have been the target of this sort of attack in Saint-Gilles, which we believe are linked to drugs," Spinette explained. However, he stressed that he has no formal evidence, making it harder for him to speak out about it publicly.
These include Rue des Fortifications, where an explosion was also reported last year, Rue de Bosnie and Rue de Metal, which are the ones attacking each other. He even mentioned a violent feud between the Saint-Gilles and the Marolles drug trafficking networks.
"It’s one of the families, one of the groups, that’s being attacked by the other group. And sometimes, there are incidents involving young people from the Marolles too. The scene has become much more aggressive than before," he said.
Easy money
Much of Brussels drug trafficking scene has been linked to international networks which operate around the Port of Antwerp, but Spinette believes these revenge attacks are a sign that drug-related networks are also "living among us".
People within the network are profiting from these crimes while operating inside the community, as police investigations have shown: "People who hide things, who say nothing and who act as enablers, who provide support. And so, we need to root out the phenomenon of these networks in the neighbourhoods."
"We saw the same system when the network was dismantled last time. In fact, it’s different families developing the same system to make easy money from drugs. Unfortunately, with the same results," Spinette explains.
Local man walking his little dog on the Place Bethleem in Saint-Gilles, Brussels, the day after bullets hit the windows of the Quatre Saisons school, in the background. Wednesday 08 October 2025. Credit: Belga
Furthermore, the Saint-Gilles mayor wants increased powers for Brussels and federal authorities to confiscate assets to fight against money laundering.
"We have a new law that has come into force on administrative oversight. And today, local authorities are involved in anti-money laundering work," he explains.
"When businesses open, or are granted permission to open, we first check whether the people involved have any links to criminal activity. If they have a criminal record, we prohibit the opening."
'Enough is enough'
Yet, given the number of properties targeted by attacks, in a small quarter of the municipality, there is still much work to be done.
The situation is not helped by Belgium's institutional lasagna, as well as the use of Brussels as a political football, despite the clear links to powerful international crime networks that operate around Antwerp.
Either way, Spinette issued a call to Saint-Gilles residents to mobilise the local community and speak out against this situation. He is alluding to the Italian anti-mafia model promoted by Belgian organisations such as Basta!, of occupying and reclaiming public spaces previously taken by organised crime.
This successfully worked in Saint-Gilles' Square Jacques Franck in 2024, when open dealing had spread to the community square, but a mobilisation by the local community helped re-occupy the public space and, for now, displace the dealers.
"For neighbours, this level of violence creates a sense of anxiety. We must all stand up and say ‘enough is enough’", Spinette concludes. "Because if not, there will soon be victims."
