#BrusselsLockdown -- Belgians Respond To Police Terrorist Alert By Posting Pictures Of Cats

On Sunday night, after the Belgium capital Brussels was put on its highest terrorist alert after suspecting a Paris-style attack was imminent, Belgian police asked people not to share anything on Twitter and social media which might jeopardise their ongoing response.

Brussels was put on a city-wide lockdown on Saturday (which is still ongoing) and Belgian authorities detained 16 suspects in counter-terrorism raids on Sunday, although suspected Paris attacks gunman Salah Abdeslam was not one of them.

Because of the sensitive nature of the operations the police asked for social media users to remain silent about any police presence or actions they might see, in case it tipped off the suspects or any terrorists still at large.

So, instead of speculating about the threat and stirring up fear and rumor, Belgians took to twitter using the hashtag #BrusselsLockdown to overload it with pictures of, what else, cute cats and kittens.

That way if any terrorists or sympathisers were looking on social media for tip offs and information, they'd just be met with the following photos of people's pets—and cat memes.

Currently there are over 400,000 pictures of cats associated with the hashtag.