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Two Luxembourg students who attended the Belgium-Sweden football match on Monday evening shared their experiences with our colleagues from RTL.lu, shedding light on their impressions during the evacuation that followed the tragic events in Brussels.
Sébastien Marchal, a student at the Free University of Brussels, described the evening as something that will remain engraved in his memory. He and eight of his friends went to watch the Belgium-Sweden match. It was his first time attending a Red Devils game.
Laurent Manderscheid, another student in the group, recalls the beginning of their evening: “At the start, we gathered at a bar near the Ixelles cemetery, as we all live nearby. We then took a tram together to the stadium. We didn’t notice anything until then, we were a bit late, and the match had already started. It was business as usual until halftime, and we remained seated in the stands during the interval. It was at that point that we noticed a growing number of spectators started standing in the stairways and looking for the exits. It was an uneasy situation, but we weren’t entirely sure what was going on until the loudspeakers suddenly announced that the game would be suspended.”
“We received messages saying we had to be careful”
The students started receiving messages from friends and relatives, and it was only at this moment that they really understood what was happening in Brussels. “We were told that two Swedish supporters had been shot. Messages from friends who weren’t at the stadium began to pour in, cautioning us to be careful,” Manderscheid said.
Marchal added that the stadium spokesman provided constant updates on the situation. Security measures were stringent, and attendees were not permitted to leave the stadium due to the police sealing off the area.
Manderscheid summed up the overall atmosphere: “It was an uneasy situation, and we didn’t really know how things were going to develop, mainly because information was not readily available.”
They were able to leave the stadium around midnight. The doors to the various stands were gradually opened. There were police everywhere. The Luxembourg students took the metro home.
“We were more involved than we wanted to be”
Manderscheid shared his sentiments on the following day when he had no university classes: “We do feel a bit strange, perhaps because we were more involved than we wanted to be. Among students, we talk a bit about the situation and all the student union events have been cancelled.”
Marchal disclosed that he experienced a certain degree of unease as he went to bed that night, given that the suspected attacker was still at large. The overall experience will likely remain etched in his memory. He was able to find some respite from the lingering thoughts as he returned to his regular school routine the next day.
Full testimonial by Sébastien Marchal (in Luxembourgish)
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