Facing highest threat alert, Belgians bring out their cats

Facing highest threat alert, Belgians bring out their cats



What police force would start playing along with a practical joke when the capital is facing its highest state of alert and its most-wanted fugitive is still on the run? Right! This is surreal Belgium.
In this handout photo released by the Belgian Federal Police and placed on the social media site Twitter, a bowl of cat food with the name of the police force on Monday, Nov. 23, 2015. Late Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015 the Belgian Federal Police asked people to stop commenting on ongoing raids in social media to avoid tipping off suspects who could be checking their tweets for suspicious activities in their neighborhood. En masse, they did more than that. The hashtag #BrusselsLockdown suddenly shifted from serious to humorous, tweeting a flood of pictures of all-too-innocent cats in all kinds of situations.
Late Sunday, police asked people to stop commenting on ongoing raids in social media to avoid tipping off suspects. En masse, they did more than that, becoming mischievous within minutes. The hashtag #BrusselsLockdown suddenly shifted from serious to humorous, tweeting a flood of pictures of all-too-innocent cats in all kinds of situations — holding their paws up as if captured, posing as police snipers with automatic weapons, and ignoring police warnings to stay away from windows.

One tweet had a cat wearing a bowler hat, the trademark of Rene Magritte, Belgium's greatest surrealist. But in the biggest surreal twist of all, the source of the mischief was tracked down to a Dutchman, traditionally the cultural rivals of the Belgians.

Hugo Janssen, a cameraman from Zwolle in northern Netherlands, immediately knew something had to be done when police asked for the tweeting silence. “I thought, well we should be able to talk about something and so _ why not cats? So I twittered a photo of our own cat,” he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. All too soon, “fantastic photos scrolled by,” he said “I was laughing so hard and that was the whole point _ just to feel happy instead on only this intense sadness.” Twitter Belgium said that “Over 220K Tweets were sent around #BrusselsLockdown.”

Within hours, federal prosecutor Eric Van Der Syp said police wanted to thank “social media users because they took the need of this operation into account." Police joined the party on Monday, posting a picture of a dish overflowing with dry cat food “For the cats that came to our aid last evening. Serve yourself! #BrusselsLockdown

http://www.mail.com/news/world/3975108-facing-highest-threat-alert-belgians-bring-their-cats.html#.23140-stage-hero1-8