Residents of Brussels suburb Molenbeek respond to being dubbed ‘jihadi capital of Europe’

CHILDREN are being frisked before being allowed to catch a train in Molenbeek — the suburb dubbed the “jihadi capital of Europe”.

‘A Muslim is not a terrorist’

IT IS the densely populated suburb dubbed the “jihadi capital of Europe” where even children are frisked by soldiers before being allowed to get on a train.

In the wake of the deadly Brussels attacks that killed 31 people, added security measures have been put in place in the suburb of Molenbeek.

Molenbeek has almost 100,000 residents — about 40 per cent are Muslim — crammed into less than 6sq km.

It has become a hotbed for terrorists and has been linked to five recent attacks.

Brothers Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who were two of the suicide bombers who inflicted the terror on Brussels last week, came from Molenbeek.

The ringleader of the Paris attacks that killed 130 people, Salah Abdeslam, was arrested in Molenbeek after a four-month manhunt.

Paris mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud was raised in the suburb, while Paris suicide bombers and brothers Salah and Brahim Abdeslam ran a cafe there.

‘A MUSLIM IS NOT A TERRORIST’

Belgium has the highest proportion of jihadi fighters leaving for Syria per head of population of any country in western Europe.

Many have links to Molenbeek.

But residents of the suburb — which has a youth unemployment rate of almost 50 per cent — have condemned the recent Brussels attacks.

They also hope they will not be unfairly targeted because they are Muslim.

Molenbeek residents, including children, were frisked by soldiers before being able to enter the Metro station after the Brussels attacks, SBS News reported.

Some young Muslims had given up catching public transport because of the constant suspicion.

“It is Muslim people (in Molenbeek), (but) a Muslim is not a terrorist,” a young Molenbeek resident told SBS News.

Other residents are quick to point out that being a young Muslim does not mean you are also a terrorist.

Many of the terrorists from the suburb did not come from religious backgrounds.

While the Abdeslam brothers who blew themselves up in the Paris attacks did run a cafe in Molenbeek, they sold alcohol and the cafe was closed down for drug offences, BBC reported.

“These attacks are horrific,” a mother told The Guardian after the Brussels attacks.

“Everyone in Belgium, no matter what their religion or roots, has been targeted in this attack.

“We’re panicked here. I really hope we are not stigmatised for being ordinary, law-abiding Muslims.”

‘MOLENBEEK RESULT OF LEFT-WING EXPERIMENT’

A member of the European Parliament says the problems in Molenbeek are just the start.

Deputy leader of the right-wing UK Independence Party, Paul Nuttall, says Molenbeek is “the result of a left-wing experiment in social engineering”.

He said the suburb was home to 94 jihadis who had returned to Europe after fighting in Syria.

Mr Nuttall said Molenbeek was a failed attempt at multiculturalism.

“Molenbeek does not have many different cultures, there is really only one: Islamic,” he said.

“Lighting up international landmarks like the Eiffel Tower in the colours of the Belgian flag is touching but it does little to address the real issue.

“Uncontrolled immigration saddled with open borders has created the perfect conditions for those who want to kill us. The way we are going, the jihadi breeding ground of Molenbeek is just the start.”

But the mayor of Molenbeek, Françoise Schepmans, has challenged critics of the suburb to join her on a walkabout on market day to get to know the besieged suburb.

Leaders and politicians from all over the world — notably from France, the United States, Israel and Australia — have been critical of Belgium in the wake of the attacks.

“European governments are confronted by a perfect storm of failed or neglected integration, foreign fighters returning from Iraq and Syria, porous borders and intelligence and security apparatuses struggling to keep pace with the scope and breadth of the threat,” Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said.

Ms Schepmans agreed her district had problems but every big city, whether in the US, Europe or Australia, had a Molenbeek, particularly in Europe and notably in Paris’s north and in Marseilles.

“I don’t understand why friends the United States, Canada and these other countries say these things; I have a feeling it’s all about bashing Belgium and bashing Molenbeek,” she said.

“We have the same values as in Australia, the United States; we want freedom and modernity and egality (equality) between women and men and we have to fight together for those values.”