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 Belgian national Salah Abdeslam has not been found despite 19
raids and 16 arrests overnight, and authorities are still warning of
possible imminent attacks like those in the French capital, in which
130 people were killed. Belgian police fear he has returned home to
launch new attacks.
The metro, museums and schools, many shops and cinemas will stay
shut on Monday in the usually bustling EU capital where many staff
will stay to work from home.
On the Grand Place, a historic central square that usually draws
crowds of tourists and local people, an armoured military vehicle
was parked under an illuminated Christmas tree.
NATO, which had raised its alert level since the Paris attacks of
Nov. 13, said its headquarters in the city were open, but some staff
had been asked to work from home and external visits had been
cancelled. EU institutions were also open, albeit with the soldiers
patrolling outside.
 Prime Minister Charles Michel said the city of 1.2 million will
remain on Belgium's fourth and highest level of security threat,
meaning the threat of an attack was "serious and imminent".
"What we fear is an attack similar to the one in Paris, with several
individuals who could possibly launch several attacks at the same
time in multiple locations," he told a news conference.
Authorities were due to review the situation again on Monday
afternoon.
Interior Minister Jan Jambon told RTL radio, however, that Belgium's
capital was still operating. "Apart from the closed metro and
schools, life goes on in Brussels, the public sector is open for
business today, many companies are open," Jambon said on Monday
morning.
The city's buses were running normally and many shops in the suburbs
were open.
GERMAN POLICE ON ALERT
Germany has kept security along its border with Belgium at a high
level since the Paris attacks, a German police spokesman said after
media reports that Abdeslam was spotted near the frontier.
Several Belgian media carried unsourced reports saying he had been
seen in a car near the eastern city of Liege heading towards
Germany. There have been numerous reported sightings in recent days.
"Intensive border security measures have been in place since last
week," the German police spokesman told Reuters.
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Shares on the Brussels stock exchange opened weaker. The Bel-20
blue-chip index, which includes brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev <ABI.BR>
and chemicals group Solvay <SOLB.BR>, was about 0.3 percent lower at
0850 GMT.
ING economist Philippe Ledent noted the biggest companies' business
was international and therefore the global situation was more
important to them. "For smaller companies active mostly in Belgium,
they will have business in the rest of the country which is less
affected," he said. "If this is limited in terms of days, in terms
of area, it's not so much of a problem."
Belgium has been at the heart of investigations into the Paris
attacks after French law enforcement bodies said two of the suicide
bombers had lived there. Abdeslam, the main suspect, had returned
home to Brussels from Paris shortly after the attacks.
Among those who decided to go out on Monday was Zineb Toubarhi, a
business engineering student in Brussels, who was waiting to catch a
bus on a frosty morning.
"I am going to my friends' place to look after their children today.
They must go to work and the schools are closed. I've had classes
cancelled at the university so I will help them," she said.
"It feels strange to see armed soldiers in the streets but this is
for our security. So, I don't know why, but I am not afraid."
(Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Matthias Inverardi;
editing by Jan Strupczewski, Louise Ireland and David Stamp)
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