There is only one place in Europe that authorities need to focus on if they want to get rid the continent of unwanted piggy-backers and terrorists, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean or simply Molenbeek in Belgium.
The place is known as the "jihadi capital of Europe" and a "radical den." Belgian authorities have said two of the gunmen in the Paris terror attacks that killed more than 130 and left hundreds injured were living in Brussels' poor district. Belgian authorities launched several set of raids in the district, which resulted in no arrests or injuries so far.
"We don’t have a grip on the situation in Molenbeek,: Jan Jambon, Belgium’s interior minister, said on Belgian television, Politico EU reported.
Located across a canal from Brussels’ European Union diplomatic quarter, Molenbeek is only a 30-minute metro ride from the heart of Belgium's capital. The area has a population of 95,000 and an industrial, working-class history, according to the district’s website. The neighborhood has a large Muslim population, with many residents having Moroccan roots and connections.
Police in Brussels arrested seven people in several raids conducted in Molenbeek in the last couple of days.. Belgian authorities said they had stopped another terrorist plot this year that was being planned in the Molenbeek area.
Why Molenbeek? The fact is that if as a citizen with Moroccan roots wanted to hide in Brussels (which has 19 municipalities), or “disappear” in a poor, densely populated area, then, they will probably come to lower Molenbeek (there is a richer, other Molenbeek).
In lower Molenbeek some 50 percent of the inhabitants are of northern Moroccan provenance. And North Moroccan jihadism is a reality today, just as the north African communities in France and Belgium are the communities from where proportionally most European jihadis emerge.
Authorities estimate 500 people have left Belgium to fight in the Middle East, with over 100 of them coming from Brussels, the majority of whom coming from Molenbeek.
Molenbeek has more than 100,000 inhabitants, 40,000 of whom are of Moroccan provenance. The population is young, but has a very high unemployment rate (some 40 percent). It means that there are thousands of Molenbeek residents of Moroccan provenance under 30 years of age and without jobs.
Militant movement may have a huge impact on some of these young people, who, after a process of radicalization, may later be persuaded to turn their own demise into a “heroic” death. It makes them, at least once in their life, heroes in the eyes of their comrades and in the eyes of Allah.
For the authorities there is a double lesson: no need to invest in the future of the children because once they became young adults, they will just resort to terrorism. Secondly: terrorist and illegal aliens living or hiding on Molenbeek do not deserve respect because they don't respect human lives anyway.
The place is known as the "jihadi capital of Europe" and a "radical den." Belgian authorities have said two of the gunmen in the Paris terror attacks that killed more than 130 and left hundreds injured were living in Brussels' poor district. Belgian authorities launched several set of raids in the district, which resulted in no arrests or injuries so far.
"We don’t have a grip on the situation in Molenbeek,: Jan Jambon, Belgium’s interior minister, said on Belgian television, Politico EU reported.
Located across a canal from Brussels’ European Union diplomatic quarter, Molenbeek is only a 30-minute metro ride from the heart of Belgium's capital. The area has a population of 95,000 and an industrial, working-class history, according to the district’s website. The neighborhood has a large Muslim population, with many residents having Moroccan roots and connections.
Police in Brussels arrested seven people in several raids conducted in Molenbeek in the last couple of days.. Belgian authorities said they had stopped another terrorist plot this year that was being planned in the Molenbeek area.
Why Molenbeek? The fact is that if as a citizen with Moroccan roots wanted to hide in Brussels (which has 19 municipalities), or “disappear” in a poor, densely populated area, then, they will probably come to lower Molenbeek (there is a richer, other Molenbeek).
In lower Molenbeek some 50 percent of the inhabitants are of northern Moroccan provenance. And North Moroccan jihadism is a reality today, just as the north African communities in France and Belgium are the communities from where proportionally most European jihadis emerge.
Authorities estimate 500 people have left Belgium to fight in the Middle East, with over 100 of them coming from Brussels, the majority of whom coming from Molenbeek.
Molenbeek has more than 100,000 inhabitants, 40,000 of whom are of Moroccan provenance. The population is young, but has a very high unemployment rate (some 40 percent). It means that there are thousands of Molenbeek residents of Moroccan provenance under 30 years of age and without jobs.
Militant movement may have a huge impact on some of these young people, who, after a process of radicalization, may later be persuaded to turn their own demise into a “heroic” death. It makes them, at least once in their life, heroes in the eyes of their comrades and in the eyes of Allah.
For the authorities there is a double lesson: no need to invest in the future of the children because once they became young adults, they will just resort to terrorism. Secondly: terrorist and illegal aliens living or hiding on Molenbeek do not deserve respect because they don't respect human lives anyway.