Europe on High Alert After Terror Sweeps

bogdanhoria/iStock/Thinkstock(BRUSSELS) — Nations across Europe remained on alert Saturday, deploying thousands of officers following terror sweeps by law enforcement agencies in the wake of last week’s deadly attack in Paris.

Up to 300 soldiers will be deployed starting on Saturday in the streets of Brussels and Antwerp, and possibly other areas, a spokesman for the interior ministry confirmed. A statement after a late night meeting Friday says their role is to watch various sites and back up the police.

Brussels police confirmed to ABC News that 14 local police stations would be closed during the night, which is thought to be a precautionary measure in the event of an attack.

Belgian policed carrying out 12 raids Thursday afternoon and evening because attacks against police officers were planned for Friday, according to EU counter-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove. Belgian authorities have described the foiled plot as “very imminent.”

In the UK, after attacks on police in Europe in recent days, officials raised the threat level for police officers across Britain to severe – the highest level it has ever been. It means an attack is “highly likely.” Police in London say they also have “heightened concern” about the risk to the Jewish community in the UK.

“In addition to our existing security measures, we are in dialogue with Jewish Community leaders about further actions that we will be taking, including more patrols in key areas,” said Mark Rowley, assistant police commissioner. “We have to be incredibly vigilant and look at all of these risks, particularly risks to police officers themselves and take every action that we can.”

The head of Europol, Rob Wainwright, told the BBC that the need for tightened security across Europe highlighted the complex nature of the terrorist threat in the region.

“We’re dealing with multiple thousands of potential terrorists,” he told the BBC World Service. He said it was hard for police to identify plans because suspects were “working in a self-radicalised way very often, not necessarily under any command and control structure.”

The moves came a week after 17 people were killed in dual terrorist attacks in Paris and a day after Belgian police killed two people in widespread counter-terrorism operations there.

France remains on its highest terrorism alert level and authorities have said that some 120,000 police and soldiers have been mobilized across France.

One of Europe’s top counter-terrorism officials said on Friday that it’s impossible to guarantee 100 percent security and that other attacks could follow last week’s incidents in Paris.

“I don’t have a crystal ball,” Gilles de Kerchove, Counter-Terrorism Coordinator for the European Union, told ABC News of the possibility of future attacks. “But the message I want to send is a bit different from the U.S. because in a way after 9/11… the expectation of the American citizen is they want 100 percent security. I think [Europe] is a bit more resolute and accepts that there is nothing like 100 percent security. You have to accept some risk in society.”

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