A person has been detained in Antwerp, Belgium, after attempting to drive his car into a busy shopping street at high speed, according to police.
“A vehicle with French plates has tried to drive at high speed into the Meir [shopping street] so that pedestrians had to jump aside,” Antwerp police chief Serge Muyters told a news conference.
“Our army colleagues forced the driver to stop but he pulled away and ran a red traffic light. We sent a special forces team and the car and the driver were stopped.”
“A man in camouflage was taken away.”
Authorities said they found knives, a gun, and a gas can with an unknown liquid in the car, Reuters reported.
“Different arms were found in the boot, bladed weapons, a pump-action rifle and a container of as yet unidentified liquid,” Belgium’s federal prosecutor said in a statement, as quoted by AFP.
“Because of these elements, and the events in London yesterday, the case is being taken on by the federal prosecutor’s office,” the statement added.
The man is of North African descent and is believed to be a radicalized extremist, according to the media.
He has been identified as 39-year-old M. R., a French national who resides in France, according to De Standaard.
French President Francois Hollande also said the incident appears to involve a French national.
“It seemed to involve a French national, with possibly a certain number of weapons in his boot – it’s up to the judges to make a statement on that – who was looking to kill or at the very least create a dramatic incident,” Hollande told reporters.
“Therefore we must continue to be on high alert and mobilize all our forces,” he added.
A Belgian federal prosecutor also said the suspect was French.
The car was intercepted at nearby port docks, according to the federal prosecutor’s office.
Source: RT
