--- title: Belgians Share Cat Photos During #BrusselsLockdown description: Belgians shared a lot of cat photos during the #BrusselsLockdown. canonical: https://time.com/4124065/belgians-cat-meme-brusselslockdown/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-23T13:00:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:27:07.420Z og:title: Belgians Share Cat Photos During #BrusselsLockdown og:description: Belgians shared a lot of cat photos during the #BrusselsLockdown. og:url: https://time.com/4124065/belgians-cat-meme-brusselslockdown/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Belgians Share Cat Photos During #BrusselsLockdown twitter:description: Belgians shared a lot of cat photos during the #BrusselsLockdown. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Belgians Fight Terror With Cat Memes During #BrusselsLockdown ## Video: Know Right Now: Brussels Still Under Highest Terror Alert [Watch (HLS stream): Know Right Now: Brussels Still Under Highest Terror Alert](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5Ls0jcgM.m3u8) (1:00)  _Published 2015-11-23. 16 were arrested on Sunday_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Nov 23, 2015 1:00 PM CUT by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Nov 23, 2015 1:00 PM CUT As an anti-terror police operation was underway in Brussels to search for Paris attackers, police asked residents to not share details of the operations on social media on Sunday evening. So instead, Belgians shared a lot of cat photos. Using the hashtag #BrusselsLockdown, Twitter users in Brussels and elsewhere shared silly videos and photos of kittens as a way of downplaying the threat and mocking the extremists who launched attacks in Paris on Nov. 13\. Here’s a sampling: > [](https://twitter.com/jaycelight/status/668542506901049344) > [](https://twitter.com/DaveSinardet/status/668553808134451200) > [](https://twitter.com/gillesakacake/status/668554068034502656) > [](https://twitter.com/PierreScheu/status/668543313742434304) > [](https://twitter.com/m%5Falbania/status/668546509043036161) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4124065/belgians-cat-meme-brusselslockdown/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4124065/belgians-cat-meme-brusselslockdown/"},"headline":"Belgians Fight Terror With Cat Memes During #BrusselsLockdown","datePublished":"2015-11-23T13:00:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:27:07.420Z","description":"That famous Belgian sense of humor","url":"https://time.com/4124065/belgians-cat-meme-brusselslockdown/","keywords":["Newsfeed","cats","World","brussels"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4124065/belgians-cat-meme-brusselslockdown/","name":"Belgians Fight Terror With Cat Memes During #BrusselsLockdown"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: Brussels Still Under Highest Terror Alert","description":"16 were arrested on Sunday","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/5Ls0jcgM/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-11-23T08:19:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5Ls0jcgM.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4124065/belgians-cat-meme-brusselslockdown/","duration":"PT1M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4124065/belgians-cat-meme-brusselslockdown/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```