The city of Brussels, Belgium, went on immediate high alert on Saturday, and the city was shut down. The Belgian government announced that it had intelligence that led it to believe that an attack on the city was imminent. The subway system in the capital city was shut down, as were many businesses. Sporting events were cancelled and people were told to try and avoid crowds if possible.

One of the most famous major cities in Europe has closed at 6 p.m. on a Saturday. Searches by Belgian police continued in the Molenbeek neighborhood which is known as a terrorist hot spot throughout Europe. Police searched homes there and the Belgian army patrolled the streets of downtown Brussels, reports The Washington Post.

Searches turned up explosives and weapons, and the prime minister told Belgians that certain suspects may be planning an attack similar to the one that happened in Paris and that they were to happen all at the same time. The American embassy warned American citizens to take cover and not to venture out onto the streets of the capital unless they absolutely had to.

Belgian soldiers patrolled the streets and stood guard at intersections and cross streets, as well as at the entrances to the downtown hotels. The government said that the subway system would start up again on Sunday at 3 p.m. local time. Stores, restaurants and concert venues were all voluntarily shut down. Even at a popular and well attended open air market in the heart of the city, the mayor of Brussels went quietly through the crowd and asked everyone to go home.

People are trying to live their lives as normally as they can. Some decided not to go into work today while others felt they had no real control over the situation so they might as well try to live as normally as they always have. One of the major players in the Paris drama has yet to be captured or killed which leaves Belgian authorities wary and somewhat frantic.

The French government on Saturday extended a ban on people gathering in public until at least the end of the month.