What would have happened if he hadn’t been arrested? An “attack” was probably avoided on Saturday in La Panne, on the Belgian coast, where an armed man was arrested near the theater which hosted the election of Miss Belgium 2023 in the evening, announced the federal prosecutor’s office.
Around 5:30 p.m., a man in his forties was arrested “very close to there” in possession of a firearm, said Eric van der Sijpt, spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office. Another gun was later discovered in his car, he said.
“We are not saying anything at this stage about the motivations, that will be the subject of the investigation”, but “we probably avoided an attack”, added Éric van der Sijpt, according to whom hundreds of people were expected for this event.
One hour late for the ceremony
The first arrivals for the event scheduled for 8:30 p.m. were banned from entering the theater until the police could inspect the premises, the Belga agency reported. The ceremony was nevertheless able to take place, starting about an hour late.
According to the Flemish newspaper Nieuwsblad, the suspect drove a rental car from the province of Limburg where he resides. A person close to him would have warned the police, allowing the arrest.