Tweet
This is awesome. Belgians fighting terrorists with surrealism:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ures-cats.html
Laughing in the face of terror: Belgians respond to police request not to tweet details of their hunt for the Paris killers by posting hilarious pictures of their cats
By Anthony Joseph for MailOnline
Published: 02:12 EST, 23 November 2015 | Updated: 10:49 EST, 23 November 2015
7.6k shares
379
View comments
Belgian police asked people not to tweet details of their operations hunting the Paris killers, but they did ask for Twitter users to 'support' the hashtag #BrusselsLockdown.
In a bizarre twist, the hashtag went viral as Belgians used it to post pictures of their cats.
Belgium's capital city was in lockdown for a third day and what is normally a vibrant and bustling place to be at this time of year, the streets were deserted as police hunted people for the Paris massacre which killed 130 people on November.
+23
Breaking news: Belgians tackled the request to not post pictured of police and military actions during the lockdown, and instead tweeted pictured of cats
Defence Minister Steven Vandeput tweeted: 'Police are asking the public not to report their movements on social media, please support & rt #BrusselsLockdown.'
Instead of taking pictures of what they could see or describing police operations, Belgians posted pictures of cats.
'I think in one hour I've seen more #lolcats than I've seen in the rest of my life,' said social media specialist Mateusz Kukulka.
Global movement: It did not take long before the hashtag and cat pictured went viral around the world
He said he believed the first to have the idea was a cameraman for the Dutch television channel NOS, Hugo Janssen, or @Hoguhugo, who tweeted: 'Instead of tweets about police activity in Brussels, here's a picture of our cat Mozart'.
As the theme caught on, some posted photos of cats looking suspicious, others of cats looking scared.
Others in the country of famed surrealist Rene Magritte took a truly surreal tack: user @jaycelight posted a picture of two Star Wars stormtroopers riding hover scooters shaped like cats.
As more and more users joined in, there was soon international support too:
'Absolutely loving the #BrusselsLockdown hashtag! Amazing. Belgium is awesome. <3,' tweeted @SvenjaLiv from Ireland.
Afterwards Belgian authorities thanked the internet.
'The federal prosecutor and the police services must thank the press and social media users for taking into account the needs of the ongoing operation,' prosecutors' office spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told a press conference as he announced 16 arrests.
Laughing in the face of terror: Belgians respond to police request not to tweet details of their hunt for the Paris killers by posting hilarious pictures of their cats
- Belgian police asked people not to tweet details of their operations
- They did ask for Twitter users to 'support' the hashtag #BrusselsLockdown
- In a bizarre twist, the hashtag went viral on social media around the world
- Instead of describing the police operations people posted pictures of cats
- See the latest news and viral stories from Twitter
By Anthony Joseph for MailOnline
Published: 02:12 EST, 23 November 2015 | Updated: 10:49 EST, 23 November 2015
7.6k shares
379
View comments
Belgian police asked people not to tweet details of their operations hunting the Paris killers, but they did ask for Twitter users to 'support' the hashtag #BrusselsLockdown.
In a bizarre twist, the hashtag went viral as Belgians used it to post pictures of their cats.
Belgium's capital city was in lockdown for a third day and what is normally a vibrant and bustling place to be at this time of year, the streets were deserted as police hunted people for the Paris massacre which killed 130 people on November.
+23
Breaking news: Belgians tackled the request to not post pictured of police and military actions during the lockdown, and instead tweeted pictured of cats
Defence Minister Steven Vandeput tweeted: 'Police are asking the public not to report their movements on social media, please support & rt #BrusselsLockdown.'
Instead of taking pictures of what they could see or describing police operations, Belgians posted pictures of cats.
'I think in one hour I've seen more #lolcats than I've seen in the rest of my life,' said social media specialist Mateusz Kukulka.
Global movement: It did not take long before the hashtag and cat pictured went viral around the world
He said he believed the first to have the idea was a cameraman for the Dutch television channel NOS, Hugo Janssen, or @Hoguhugo, who tweeted: 'Instead of tweets about police activity in Brussels, here's a picture of our cat Mozart'.
As the theme caught on, some posted photos of cats looking suspicious, others of cats looking scared.
Others in the country of famed surrealist Rene Magritte took a truly surreal tack: user @jaycelight posted a picture of two Star Wars stormtroopers riding hover scooters shaped like cats.
As more and more users joined in, there was soon international support too:
'Absolutely loving the #BrusselsLockdown hashtag! Amazing. Belgium is awesome. <3,' tweeted @SvenjaLiv from Ireland.
Afterwards Belgian authorities thanked the internet.
'The federal prosecutor and the police services must thank the press and social media users for taking into account the needs of the ongoing operation,' prosecutors' office spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told a press conference as he announced 16 arrests.