Belgian police asked Twitter followers to observe “radio silence” Sunday as they hunted terrorists linked to the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, so Twitter responded by not letting the cat out of the bag, so to speak — instead, they flooded the feed with cat images and memes.
“For safety, please observe radio silence on social media #Bruxelles ongoing police operations. Thank you,” police tweeted in French as they conducted various raids throughout the city.
With Brussels in lockdown mode and Belgium at its highest terror alert, Belgians responded against the fear with laughter. Under the hashtag #BrusselsLockdown, Belgians tweeted funny cat photos and memes so that terrorists wouldn’t gain any information on the police operation and to break the tension for people stuck at home.
Police arrested 21 suspects from the raids, but they weren’t able to find Salah Abdeslam, who is accused of participating in the Paris attacks on behalf of the Islamic State terror group.
Here are some examples from #BrusselsLockdown.
We must not let fear win… #BrusselsLockDown pic.twitter.com/GAr5YGpkGz
— Maiol Sanaüja (@maiolsanauja) November 23, 2015
SEE ALSO: Belgium police arrest 21; Paris fugitive still at large
Fierce Belgian Police Squad in action. They will hunt you down! #BrusselsLockdown pic.twitter.com/uRxCnok5Vn
— Yameli Mera (@YMera_) November 23, 2015
This is how Belgium fights terrorism #BrusselsLockdown pic.twitter.com/cRQlMpd8T7
— Lindsey Oakenshield (@HobbitLindsey) November 22, 2015
The efforts were appreciated.
“Thanks to the media and citizens for their silence online as asked during the juridicial intervention tonight #BrusselsLockdown,” police tweeted Sunday.
As the city remains in its third day of lockdown on Monday, the raids and memes continued.
• Maria Stainer can be reached at mstainer@washingtontimes.com.
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