by James Wright
BRUSSELS, March 22 (Xinhua) -- A memorial is taking place on Thursday in memory of the 32 civilians killed and 340 wounded in the coordinated Brussels airport and metro terror attacks that struck the Belgian capital on March 22, 2016.
Belgium's Prime Minister Charles Michel was present on Thursday morning for a minute of silence at Zaventem airport, where flowers were placed in the departure hall. Before noon, victims and their relatives gathered in the departure terminal before a small commemoration took place in the Memorial Garden.
As a tribute to one of the many victims of the municipality of Molenbeek, the Place des Alouettes square was renamed on March 21 to Loubna Lafquiri square, in memory of a 34-year-old teacher of Moroccan origin.
On the morning of March 22, 2016, three coordinated suicide bombings occurred in Belgium: two at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, and one at Maalbeek metro station in central Brussels. Thirty-two civilians and three perpetrators were killed, and more than 300 people were injured.
A trial before the Brussels court in connection to the attacks is expected to take place next year, said Federal Prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw on Flemish channel VTM. This will be the biggest trial ever witnessed in Belgian history.
On Jan. 22 this year, Belgium decided to lower the level of the terrorist threat from level 3 ("possible and likely") to level 2 ("unlikely").
But Eric Jacobs, head of the Federal Judicial Police in Brussels, recently underlined the danger posed by radicalism in society and the importance of taking substantial security measures.
Since the attacks, an average of 100 people per month, more than three per day, are intercepted at Zaventem airport for having a profile related to radicalism, extremism or terrorism, according to reports.
Jacobs believes Daesh(the Islamic State)has enough resources to pose further threats and "we must see radicalism as something that we will always have to keep an eye on in society".
