Brussels adds Ixelles' Gray district to anti-drug zones

The Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region, B. Dilliès, has added the “Gray” neighborhood, in Ixelles, to the list of zones subject to administrative police measures intended to combat drug trafficking. The decree of September 18, 2026, published in the Belgian Official Gazette on October 2, 2026, under reference [C − 2026/006953], supplements Article 6 of the decree of September 2, 2026, with a 19° worded as “neighborhood ‘Gray’”. The measure entered into force on the day of its signature.

The mechanism is part of the Regional Strategy to combat drug trafficking and its impact on security in the Brussels-Capital Region, approved on February 27 and March 11, 2024, by the Regional Security Council (CoReS). The common core of measures was established by the decree of April 2, 2024, and subsequently renewed by the decree of September 2, 2026, the list of neighborhoods in which is evolving to account for the displacement of crime. Three neighborhoods had already been added: “Aumale” on October 25, 2024, “Parc Elisabeth” on February 26, 2025, and “Marbotin” on December 12, 2025.

A municipal request supported by the police

On August 28, 2026, the Minister-President received a request from the mayor of Ixelles seeking the addition of a new neighborhood. This request is supported by an administrative report from the Brussels CAPITALE Ixelles police zone (ZP 5339), transmitted to the safe.brussels services on September 7, 2026. The report objectifies the situation in the “Gray” neighborhood based on two complementary sources: calls to the 101 dispatch center and police reports, from January 1 to August 27, 2025, and over the corresponding period in 2026.

Narcotics: 220 calls concentrated on one axis

220 calls relating to narcotics recorded from January 1, 2025, to August 27, 2026, of which 77.7% were on the axis formed by the streets of Levure and Brasserie.
67.3% of the calls concern group drug use and 28.6% concern trafficking or dealing, with the phenomenon manifesting primarily in public spaces.
57.3% of the calls are recorded between 6:00 PM and midnight, with a marked concentration between 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM.
Police reports record 1,675 distinct incidents, including 122 narcotics-related offenses (7.28%): illegal possession (61.5%), general offenses (19.7%), and unauthorized sale (13.9%).

Violence: a 42.2% increase and a peak in June

479 calls relating to violence or threats; over the same period, their number rose from 166 in 2025 to 236 in 2026, an increase of +42.2%.
June 2026 is particularly marked: 66 calls compared to 21 in June 2025, an increase of +214%.
The incidents consist of intentional assault and fights (42%), threats (16.5%), threats with a weapon (4.8%), gang fights (3.8%) and fights with bladed weapons (3.5%).
Police reports record 245 acts of violence out of 1,675 recorded incidents (14.6%), concentrated on Boondael avenue (50.3%), Gray street (10.9%), Maria Malibran street (6.9%) and Digue street (6.9%).

Anti-social behavior, disturbances, and breaches of public peace represent 17.4% of calls: nighttime noise (47.6%), nuisance persons (13.5%), drunkenness (12.4%) and vandalism (2.8%). Their number remains stable but high — 417 in 2025 compared to 419 in 2026 — reflecting continuous pressure on public space. Boondael avenue remains the primary point of attention with 200 calls (47.7% of the total, +29.9%), while Maria Malibran street rose from 13 to 40 calls (+207.7%) and Digue street from 1 to 10 (+900%).

What the measure changes

The addition of the “Gray” neighborhood makes the same measures applicable as in the other designated neighborhoods:

prohibition of the sale of alcoholic beverages for takeout by businesses during certain hours;
prohibition of consumption on public roads and of automatic alcoholic beverage vending machines in public places;
prohibition of entering public spaces and adjacent areas for the sole purpose of purchasing illicit drugs;
identity checks, security searches, and administrative seizures by police services.

It is up to the mayor of Ixelles to define the exact perimeter of the neighborhood in a police ordinance. The measures are geographically circumscribed and limited to the validity period of the decree of September 2, 2026, applicable until March 2, 2027 inclusive. An application for annulment may be filed with the Council of State within 60 days of publication in the Belgian Official Gazette.

For the residents and business owners of Ixelles, the decree concretely means reinforced checks and hourly restrictions within a perimeter yet to be determined by the municipality, against a backdrop of documented degradation of security around Boondael avenue and Gray street.

Source: Belgian Official Gazette of October 2, 2026, p. 52805, [C − 2026/006953].