Even with the alert level this high, Michel said that schools and the subway system would reopen progressively as of Wednesday.
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The find triggered speculation that maybe the belt had malfunctioned or – if it belonged to Abdeslam – that he had aborted a suicide bombing mission.
Belgian authorities have extended a maximum security alert in the capital, Brussels, over lingering fears of an “imminent” terrorist attack.
Francois Molins, the Paris anti-terror prosecutor in charge of the investigation, said the vests used in the attacks were composed of acetone peroxide, a chemical explosive easy to produce by amateurs.
Belgian prime minister Charles Michel said Brussels, which also houses the headquarters of the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, faced a “serious and imminent” threat of attack, while the rest of the nation would stay at the second-highest level.
A Belgian anti-terrorism judge on Monday charged a suspect with involvement in the Paris attacks, the federal prosecutor’s office said, the fourth person to face charges in Belgium over the 13 November atrocities.
BELGIAN police launched more raids in Brussels and beyond early yesterday, detaining five more people as they continued their hunt for a suspect in the Paris attacks. Forensic experts are working to establish its composition and whether it was linked to the attacks in the French capital.
But investigators believe they may have found his bomb belt after a street cleaner came across it in a bin in Montrouge, south of the French capital.
However, the fugitive and Paris terror suspect Salah Abdeslam remains on the run. “For the metro it could be in a progressive way”, he said. Extra security personnel will be deployed at schools.
A travel alert, which is to be in effect until February 24, said current information suggests that militants with the Islamic State, al-Qaida, Boko Haram and other terrorist groups continue to plan attacks in multiple regions. Several of the attackers are thought to have entered Europe on a migrant trail through Greece.
France said on Tuesday it would install security gates at the Paris and Lille stations of the high-speed Thalys train, the target of a previous failed attack which police believe may be connected to the deadly Paris assaults.
Unsurprisingly, many people are alarmed and scared by the state of emergency.
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Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve also held a meeting with French Muslim leaders, who have denounced the attacks and expressed concern about a backlash on France’s largely moderate, 5-million-strong Muslim community.
