For a few days now, a wall at the Josaphat Park in the Brussels municipality of Schaerbeek has displayed eye-catching graffiti which appears to be a price list for drugs.
"€10 1g, €20 2g, €40 5g, €50 6g" is written in black paint on a wall on the Chaussée de Haecht in Schaerbeek, sharply contrasting with the neat white stone on which it was sprayed.
Local residents are worried that it concerns a list of per-gram drug prices but added that this would be strange, as the neighbourhood around the park is not known to have any drug-related problems, they told La Libre Belgique.
The practice of spraying drug prices on walls has existed for some time in certain neighbourhoods in the French city of Marseille. Those living in the area fear it has been brought over to Belgium and do not want the relatively quiet area to be turned into a potential site for drug dealing.
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The police say that this is a "well known" tag. "It is not the only one that our services have recorded. However, we do not know whether it is just a provocation or whether it is linked to drug dealing," a spokesperson for the Brussels North police zone told the newspaper.
The tag will be removed very shortly, they said, adding that an investigation will likely be carried out to find out whether the graffiti is harmless, or whether it is in fact a technique used by drug dealers to attract customers.
