This past weekend, Brussels (Belgian’s capital) was placed under lockdown because of a “serious and imminent threat” of a potential terrorist attack. Authorities closed schools, universities, and public transit, all of which remained closed as recently as Monday (November 23). In order to ensure that the suspects they were tracking could not in turn track them, the federal police requested, via Twitter, that the public stay quiet about any anti-terror operations, especially on social media.
Par sécurité, veuillez respecter le silence radio sur les médias sociaux concernant les opérations de police en cours à #Bruxelles. Merci
— Police Fédérale (@policefederale) November 22, 2015
For security, please respect the radio silence on social media concerning the police operations underway in Brussels. Thanks
The sentiment was echoed by Steven Vandeput, the Defense Minister, who used the hashtag #BrusslesLockdown. Twitter users from Brussels responded in the best possible way: by flooding the hashtag with cat memes. It shows both a great sense of humour and a great sense of resilience to respond to a potential terror threat with seemingly meaningless cat memes. The move was an incredibly powerful one as well. By flooding the hashtag with humour, residents were able to bury any tweets that could have impeded the police, still enforce the requested social media silence, and help each other through an ongoing stressful and tense situation.
Some tweets were of those protecting the city:
Don't worry super cat is here #BrusselsLockdown pic.twitter.com/ocou9Bagly
— Amit Bhat (@amitbhatr) November 22, 2015
https://twitter.com/Gilles_PPDE/status/668559921164742656
https://twitter.com/loredewitte/status/668558619491848192
https://twitter.com/jaycelight/status/668536938778009600
Others showed off more playful feline reactions:
Stay inside they said. #BrusselsLockdown pic.twitter.com/hpAfV417Hf
— Felix Reda (@Senficon) November 22, 2015
Is it safe to come out yet? #BrusselsLockdown pic.twitter.com/6S7J7fYRDc
— Stéphanie O'Keeffe (@stephokeeffe) November 22, 2015
You can't keep hiding. #BrusselsLockdown pic.twitter.com/4ls1e9qB3s
— Lore Vonck (@lorevonck) November 22, 2015
#relax, Mes amis #BrusselsLockdown pic.twitter.com/LENxVUnnv9
— Mr. Jane Austen (@ExTimUpperClass) November 22, 2015
Cats from around the world eventually showed their solidarity:
Pumpkin shows solidarity with the #BrusselsLockdown pic.twitter.com/D3YAVzQ9fA
— Leon – BlackLivesMatter (@DrLeonJ) November 22, 2015
Well played Belgium. Not giving in to fear and turning #BrusselsLockdown into the best hashtag of 2015 #Cats pic.twitter.com/EPNVGA8DrH
— Tony Colville (@tony_colville) November 22, 2015
The humour and strong will displayed by the Belgian residents was noticed by the authorities, who first tweeted how thankful they were that those complied with their requested social media silence:
Thanks to the media and citizens for their silence online as asked during the juridicial intervention tonight #BrusselsLockdown
— CrisisCenter Belgium (@CrisiscenterBE) November 22, 2015
The federal police also responded with thanks, in a wonderfully playful tweet.
Voor de katten die ons gisteren geholpen hebben… Alsjeblieft! #BrusselsLockdown pic.twitter.com/QlwY9EtzEZ
— Federale Politie (@federalepolitie) November 23, 2015
For all those cats who helped us yesterday…Please!
The lockdown is still in place, and authorities anticipate it will remain that way until Wednesday.
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