Brussels residents gather collectively to mourn and stand defiant in the face of terror

Paul Peachey joins the remembrance crowds in the Place de la Bourse

Crowds gather to pay tribute at a makeshift memorial at Place de la Bourse in Brussels (Getty Images)

With the helicopter clattering overhead, the minute of sombre reflection for the people of Brussels was never to be a truly silent one.

The overt surveillance and sporadic police sirens were reminders that amid the remembrance for the dozens killed, the uncomfortable fact remained that potential suicide bombers were still on the run.

Still they gathered in their thousands, most notably at the Place de la Bourse, in the city centre, which has become a focal point of remembrance and mourning. Candles have been laid in the shape of hearts, messages have been chalked on the pavement: some desperate messages for peace, others angry denunciations of the terrorists.

Where earlier I saw a solitary man sitting cross-legged and weeping in front of the candles and flowers in the light rain, the space was filled by hundreds of people before noon. When the minute of silence ended, a ripple of applause sounded across the square.

Inside the headquarters of the European Commission, within sight of the cordoned zone around Maelbeek metro station, the scene of the second suicide attack on Tuesday morning, the Belgian royal family joined political leaders and senior staff, some holding the flag of Europe in a message of solidarity and defiance.

“Yesterday, terrorists hit at the heart of Europe, our city, Brussels. Innocent people were killed and injured,” said the commission’s vice-president Kristalina Georgieva. “We come out of expression of solidarity with Belgium and Europe to a minute of silence.”

Outside the flags of Europe and Belgium flew at half-mast. Soldiers stood among the television crews; security staff on the doors of other EU institutions – where signs indicated the high orange threat level – pulled their scarves over their faces. One tourist took a picture of himself at the scene with a selfie stick.

Across Belgium, schools, offices and factories came to a halt as the nation marked the moment of terrorist devastation so many had long anticipated would come one day, just as it had previously been visited upon other great European capitals.

Crowds had gathered outside the Commission standing on the walls, some of them expecting a more public show from their leaders. But with suited security men looking on nervously, and the soldiers watching with their guns drawn, it was never going to happen.