Belgium marks holiday under tightened security

Belgium marks holiday under tightened security | iNFOnews.ca
In this framegrab taken from APTN, a soldier walks along a street in Brussels, Belgium, Wednesday July 20, 2016. Police in Brussels say they arrested a man acting suspiciously and wearing heavy clothes with wires hanging out, in the area of place Monnaie. Police closed the area and evacuated people surrounding the area. (AP Photo/APTN)

BRUSSELS – A week after the Bastille Day attack that killed scores of people in France, Belgium is celebrating its national holiday under tightened security.

Festivities began Thursday morning with a religious service at the Brussels cathedral that was attended by Belgium’s king and queen, Prime Minister Charles Michel and other dignitaries.

A large contingent of police, including snipers, was posted around the building.

A military parade through central Brussels is planned in the afternoon, and a fireworks display in the evening.

The Belgian government ordered beefed-up security following the July 14 attack in Nice, France, in which an attacker slammed a truck into a crowd celebrating France’s national holiday, killing 84 people.

In March, Brussels itself endured twin suicide bombings that killed 32 victims at the airport and in the subway.

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