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Belgian museum calls off Charlie Hebdo exhibit over ‘security risks’

The file photo shows a view of the Hergé Museum in the Belgian town of Louvain-la-Neuve.

A renowned museum in Belgium has decided to cancel an exhibition to honor the slain cartoonists at the French satirical weekly, Charlie Hebdo, citing security concerns.

Nick Rodwell, the director of the Hergé Museum in the Belgian town of Louvain-la-Neuve, announced on Thursday that they would not go ahead with the planned exhibition after police presented them with “the nature of the potential risks.”

The Belgian museum is dedicated to the memory and works of the Belgian cartoonist, Georges Prosper Remi, known by the pen name Hergé, who created the comic book hero, Tintin.

“We decided not to open our exhibition on Thursday morning insofar as it could raise the concerns of both museum staff and the residents of Louvain-la-Neuve,” Rodwell said in a statement.

During the exhibition, the Hergé Museum was supposed to feature portraits of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, who were killed after the Paris office of the French magazine came under a shooting assault earlier this month.

Spasm of violence in France

The announcement came after a wave of terror attacks in France, which began on January 7 when the office of Charlie Hebdo magazine came under assault by two gunmen. Some 12 people were killed in the assault that left France in huge shock and fear.

The incident was followed by a series of sieges and shootings across Paris, resulting in the killing of more people and an extensive sense of insecurity in the country.

An al-Qaeda branch in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack on Charlie Hebdo.

Europe on high alert

Following the terror attacks in France, other European countries are now concerned about the threat posed by the militants who come back home after fighting alongside the Takfiri terrorist groups in the Middle East.

In Belgium, some 150 forces were last week deployed to the northern town of Antwerp, which hosts the NATO headquarters, various EU offices as well as the US and Israeli embassies, after security forces began a crackdown on a suspected terrorist cell in the country.

Belgian police also shot dead at least two suspected militants and left seriously injured another during counter-terror raids in the country a day earlier.

Police in other European states, including Germany, Greece and France, have also made several arrests over the past days to prevent potential terror attacks by the elements inspired by the Takfiri militants wreaking havoc on Syria and Iraq.

MKA/SS


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