More than 230 000 attended Friday in the National Day festivities in Brussels, according to a press communique by Brussels police spoke-person Ilse Van de Keere. The celebrations went smoothly with no serious incidents.
About 25 000 people watched the evening shows at the royal palace, including the royal family. This is the maximum amount of people that the area can hold.
Belgian royal family in the audience at Place Royal in Brussels.
The fireworks display was especially impressive this year. Over 100 000 projectiles were fired according to Benoît Halein who led the display with his father Georges, born on the National Day, both part of the Van Cleemput firework artificial masters.
For this edition, the firework equipments had been modernised with new kind of projectiles originating from Spain. They create a sharper look, less smoke and are brighter. “These new fireworks truly make a special effect and should impress the people”, said Benoît Halein in excitement.“ "This year we have a very wide range of colors, up to orange."
The fireworks display kicked off with a display of classical music, from the choir "O Fortuna" of Carmina Burana composed by Carl Orff. It was later followed by other powerful music such as "Protectors of the Earth" by Thomas Bergersen and the soundtrack of the film "Pearl Harbor". The finale of the fireworks was accompanied with the music from Batman.
The Brussels Times
