Armed police and troops patrolled the near-deserted streets of Brussels all weekend after the government raised the terror alert to the highest level of four in the city.
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In a statement claiming responsibility for the attacks, ISIL mentioned the 18 arrondissement of Paris, which contains the Montmartre district, home of the Basilica of the Sacre-Cœur and the Moulin Rouge cabaret theatre and popular with tourists.
Authorities in Belgium and France are continuing a massive manhunt for Belgian-born fugitive Salah Abdeslam, who is suspected of participating in the deadly Paris attacks, which have heightened security concerns across Europe.
Schools and the metro will be shut as the Belgian capital stays at the highest possible alert level. But police say Abdeslam slipped out of France and could be hiding in Belgium or Germany. A French resident of Brussels, he is believed to have taken part in the Paris attacks.
The recent arrests bring the total number of people detained since police launched a major security operation on Sunday night to 21, with 16 of them already taken into custody, according to AFP.
In addition, the vest was found in the same zone where the cellphone of a man sought by police was geolocalized.
Mohammed Amri, 27, and Hamza Attou, 20, were charged last Monday on suspicion of helping Abdeslam escape to Brussels after the attacks, while a third unnamed person faces charges of aiding him when he reached the city.
Michel added, however, that schools and the subway system in Brussels will re-open on Wednesday. He was killed on Wednesday in a stand-off with French police.
But the man they were looking for remains at large.
The State Department often issues individual country travel alerts, but this notice was a rare “worldwide travel alert” that comes in the wake of a series of attacks. They declined to give their names because they weren’t authorized to speak to the press.
France has intensified its bombings in Syria since the attacks in Paris. On Saturday, it also extended a ban on demonstrations and other gatherings through November 30, when a United Nations climate conference to be attended by more than 100 heads of state is scheduled to start.
During those attacks, different groups of suicide bombers and gunmen targeted the Stade de France stadium north of Paris, and bars and restaurants in the capital, in addition to a bloody gun attack and hostage situation at the Bataclan concert hall that killed 89 people.
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In between the two trips, Hollande is due to receive German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday night and Italy’s President Matteo Renzi on Thursday morning.
