Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) A number of tram and bus lines were disrupted by vandalism on New Year’s Eve in the capital. This mainly happened in Schaarbeek, but also in the vicinity of the Baraplein behind the South Station. Still, there was less vandalism than last year, says STIB spokeswoman An Van hamme.
The windows of three trams were smashed, as was one bus shelter. Most cases were in Schaerbeek just after midnight. Later that night, the windows of a tram near the Baraplein behind the South Station were smashed. “It’s a pity about the damage, but there is less vandalism than last year,” says Van hamme. “Not a single bus has been damaged this year.”
As a reminder, last year on New Year’s Eve, six trams and two STIB buses were pelted with cobblestones.
Prevention of STIB Transport
In several other places, STIB transport was preventively stopped at the request of the police. This happened, for example, with buses 27, 59 and 46. It concerns the routes between the stops Steenbok and Heilige Familie in Schaarbeek, between the stops Houwaert and Gutenberg in Sint-Joost-ten-Node and between Anderlechtsepoort and Clémenceau in Anderlecht.
Why exactly this happened, STIB cannot say. It is clear that it was very busy in some places. In places with large crowds, the police want to reduce the risk that something would go wrong. Also think of the Park and Troon stops, which were closed due to a large group of people who came to watch the fireworks on the Place des Palais.
“There was a lot of people out and about. We transported 115,000 travelers,” says Van hamme. “It was a New Year’s Eve similar to 2019 – before corona – when 114,000 people used our services.”
This article is originally published on bruzz.be.
