Belgians asked not to tweet police movements, tweet adorable pictures of cats instead

Belgians asked not to tweet police movements, tweet adorable pictures of cats instead

On Saturday night, as a huge counter terrorism operation took place across Brussels, the local police tweeted asking people not to report police movements online. The Belgian capital has been on lockdown since Saturday, while the search for the Paris gunman continued. People have been discussing events online with the #BrusselsLockdown hashtag.



But by the end of the weekend, the hashtag had been taken over in a hilarious and quite adorable fashion, in a spontaneous and hive-minded attempt to ensure any operational details were swamped. Swamped with what? Why, with pictures of cats, what else?

Mentions of the hashtag on Twitter soared to 238,000 in just four days, with people sharing Photoshops and pictures of cats. The image with the most impact across Twitter was this, stolen by many social media users and featured on news organisations around the world, from the BBC to CNN and beyond.


Through all the messages of solidarity…

…the general theme was clear…


…cats are taking control, and terrorists don’t stand a chance.

Fans of man’s best friend were less convinced, however…


But the Brussels police were very appreciative, tweeting: “To all the cats that helped us last night, help yourselves!”


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