Kerry MEP Describes Atmosphere In Brussels After Terror Attacks This Morning

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wo loud explosions at #Zaventem airport in Brussels

People fleeing from the devastation at Zaventem airport in Brussels this morning which was the scene of a terrorist attack.

IRELAND South MEP Sean Kelly has been describing the situation in Brussels this morning in the wake of two bombings in the city.

The Kilcummin man was speaking on Radio Kerry’s ‘Kerry Today’ programme as he was looking out from the window of the EU Parliament building, next to Maalbeek Metro Station where one of the bombs went off this morning. He also said one of the interns in the building was injured in a blast and it was not a comfortable situation this morning in the city.

Unofficial reports, as of 10.30am this morning, put the death toll at 23 so far killed in explosions at Brussels Airport and the metro station, according to Belgian media.

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Ireland South MEP Sean Kelly; “It’s hard to counteract people who strike indiscriminately.”

“They’re trying to scare and disrupt western society as much as possible and Brussels is seen as the de facto capital of Europe from that point of view,” Mr Kelly told host Jerry O’Sullivan. “Striking at the European institutions and airports and metro stations where people are coming and going…it’s obviously a tactic of these terrorists and unfortunately they succeeded this morning,” he said.

Mr Kelly said that last night he witnessed six foreigners up being held against the wall by the police near where one of the attacks took place, so he speculated that maybe the authorities had some inkling something was going to take place.

“Obviously it’s hard to counteract people who strike indiscriminately at any particular place so mayhem is the result,” he said.

Mr Kelly said security at the EU Parliament has been upped considerably  since the Paris attacks last year and if they had the same lax security measures today, he feared that they would have been a prime target this morning.

Francis Fitzgibbon from Tralee, who lived near Maalbeek Metro Station while working in Paris up to Christmas of last year, said the terrorists thrive on fear.

“They’ll be very happy with their work this morning,” he told the ‘Kerry Today’ programme. He also described what the security is like in Brussels since the Paris attacks.

“Just before I left, on an average Saturday night out in Brussels, it wouldn’t be a strange thing to be surrounded by heavily-armed army personnel. That’s just a sad fact of life in Brussels. It’s something that’s pervasive everywhere in the beautiful squares and parks. It has in some senses become like a war-zone and this will make it worse,”he said.

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