Brussels Opens 19th Drug Hotspot in Ixelles

Brussels has designated a new drug-trafficking “hotspot” in the Gray district of Ixelles, the 19th such zone in the capital region and the fourth added since the mechanism was introduced in April 2024. Minister-President Boris Dillies (MR) signed the police decree on Friday, 18 September, formalising enhanced police powers across a perimeter bounded by rue Gray, rue Maria Malibran, rue de la Levure and rue de la Brasserie, near Place Flagey.

The measure, requested by the Ixelles municipal authority and backed by police reports and emergency-call data, follows several years of cannabis and cocaine dealing and associated nuisance in an area described as quiet by day but increasingly troubled by night. The move brings the regional total from 18 to 19 hotspots, according to RTBF, which reported the decision on 19 September.

What the Hotspot Status Means

Inside a designated perimeter, hotspot rules restrict the use of public space and widen police powers. Alcohol consumption on the public highway is prohibited, and takeaway sales of alcoholic beverages are banned between 22:00 and 06:00, seven days a week, with exceptions for licensed drinking establishments, restaurants and delivery services. Police may conduct enhanced surveillance and identity checks around the clock, carry out security frisks and seize drug-consumption paraphernalia.

Authorities have also pointed to additional police reinforcements, mobile cameras and closer coordination between security actors as part of the response.

Local Frustration and Cautious Hope

Ixelles mayor Romain De Reusme (PS) framed the hotspot as a tool to strengthen an ongoing local effort. “We have considerably strengthened the resources for control. I had cameras installed. I was led to close an Horeca establishment that was supporting this trafficking,” he told RTBF, adding that the perimeter would “facilitate controls and administrative procedures to fight drug trafficking.”

De Reusme has been blunter about the scale of the problem, saying that “gangs are well established and drug dealing is significant” and that authorities “must break this vicious circle.”

Reaction in the neighbourhood is mixed. One resident told RTBF that police surveillance had increased noticeably and that “we see less trafficking.” A passer-by was unconvinced: “It can help but not much,” they said. “They see, but they don’t arrest people. They don’t do the controls properly.”

Displacement: A Known Weakness

The central critique of the hotspot model is that enforcement may simply push trafficking a few streets away. Dillies acknowledged as much, describing displacement as a principle that “we must evaluate.”

“I don’t consider that a hotspot will, abracadabra, settle everything,” he said. “But one thing is certain: we work with a very strong focus of police and judicial action in these neighbourhoods so that we can restore order and calm.”

Dillies has also called the fight against drug trafficking “one of this government’s priorities,” pledging to “harass the dealers and allow the neighbourhoods to regain their calm.”

A Security-Led Approach Under Question

National Drugs Commissioner Ine Van Wymersch argued that enforcement alone is insufficient. “This is a first phase, but we must also work on a preventive municipal regulation that protects honest traders and prevents dishonest traders involved in money laundering from setting up in the neighbourhood,” she said, adding that authorities must “actively work with young people and steer them towards education or employment.”

The hotspots have multiplied across the capital since their introduction, the region’s security agency, safe.brussels, describes the strategy as resting on three pillars: security, prevention and neighbourhood quality of life. Governance runs through a regional security council, an executive cell coordinated by safe.brussels, and local task forces led by mayors.

Results have been recorded — earlier operations in the Midi zone yielded roughly EUR 140,000 in seized cash, 48 kilograms of drugs and some 1,400 arrests — but trafficking has not been halted. Named zones include Matonge, Yser, Clemenceau, Peterbos, the Midi and North stations, Etangs Noirs, Ribaucourt, Aumale and Parc Elisabeth.

Political Pressure and What Comes Next

The expansion lands amid heightened scrutiny of Brussels’ drug violence. Shootings have multiplied in 2026, and on 2 September Dillies conceded in the regional parliament that “we haven’t done what was necessary,” acknowledging reduced prevention resources. In February 2025, a fatal shooting in Peterbos prompted then-Minister-President Rudi Vervoort to convene the regional security council early, extending the hotspot strategy by six months and drawing the first-ever attendance of Interior Minister Bernard Quintin.

With each new zone, the debate sharpens over whether targeted police action can outpace a trafficking economy that keeps relocating. Regional actors continue to call for better coordination at the national level — a recognition that the street-level fight is bound up with organised crime, money laundering and cross-border networks that no single municipality can address alone.

For the Gray district, the decree marks the start of an experiment already tested 18 times elsewhere. Whether the 19th hotspot restores calm or merely shifts the problem will depend less on the perimeter itself than on the preventive and social measures that officials acknowledge have yet to keep pace.