While strings of shootings in Belgium often receive the most media attention, knife crimes remain an ongoing issue in the country.
Just this week in Brussels, a man was seriously injured in Forest during a knife fight. A few days later, two healthcare workers were victims of a knife attack at the emergency department of Saint-Pierre Hospital. In Antwerp, a man was stabbed to death on a bus on Monday.
However, such individual reports of stabbings hardly paint a picture of the overall situation that the country and the capital face in regard to this type of crime.
The Brussels Times is taking a closer look at stabbing incidents in a series of news articles. The first instalment of this series looks at the official statistics across the Belgian regions and the municipalities in Brussels.
Mixed trends
It is important to note that not all stabbing incidents involve a knife. In the federal police statistics, a stabbing crime or incident is defined as an act of bodily assault or murder, committed in any place and in which the perpetrator strikes the victim (with knives) or attempts to do so.
At a regional level, the Brussels Capital-Region has consistently had the fewest number of stabbing incidents since 2015. Wallonia has remained second in terms of stabbing numbers, with Flanders consistently leading at a regional level in terms of this crime.
Nevertheless, looking at the data, it is not easy to extrapolate a singular trend of a rising or declining number of incidents. However, in Flanders, stabbings increased notably between 2017 and 2021, rising from 270 to 369, an increase of almost 37%.
In Wallonia, a marked dip in the number of stabbings was noted between 2018 and 2020, with a 21% decrease, from 227 incidents to 170. However, in 2022, the Walloon region saw a peak in the number of stabbings, with 284 incidents recorded, the highest number amongst the data available since 2015.
In Brussels, between 2015 and September of 2024, the number of incidents has not surpassed the 200 mark. Between 2021 and 2023, the number of stabbing in the region remained notably stable.
While Flanders and Wallonia recorded a dip in stabbing incidents in 2023, the Brussels-capital Region reached its record number of stabbings that same year, with a total of 185 incidents.
Different numbers, same municipalities
Closing in on the Brussels-Capital Region, official statistics per Brussels police zone over the last decade show once again a varying fluctuation in the number of incidents. There is not a consistent overall increase or decrease at a police zone level.
However, trends do emerge in terms of which zones are burdened the most with this sort of crime.
Overall, with the exception of 2018, the Brussels-Midi police zone has registered the largest number of stabbing incidents since 2015. This zone includes Anderlecht, Forest, and Saint-Gilles. The number of incidents ranged from its lowest in 2018, with 34 incidents, to its peak number of stabbings in 2023, when 64 stabbings were recorded.
The Brussels-Capital-Ixelles zone has consistently followed the Midi zone throughout the decade, except in 2018 when this zone recorded 53 incidents, 19 more than the Midi police area.
Notably, the number of stabbing incidents has constantly been the lowest in the police zones in Montgomery and Uccle/W-B/Auderghem.
Narrowing further on the figures, patterns also emerge at a municipal level. Over the years, the City of Brussels, Anderlecht and Molenbeek have overall seen a relatively high number of stabbings, compared to other municipalities.
Similarly, Saint-Gilles and Schaerbeek have recorded a comparatively high number of stabbings.
Contrastingly, other municipalities have consistently recorded very few stabbing incidents. Notably, some municipalities have had years without any recorded stabbings. This includes Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Watermael-Boitsfort, and Auderghem.
Nonetheless, while the official statistics help understand the frequency and geographical patterns of these incidents, they only tell part of a story.
The context behind the figures, the relevant laws, and the real-life impact on communities in Brussels will be investigated by The Brussels Times over the next few weeks.
