An all-too-familiar sense of helplessness and resignation engulfed the world on Tuesday as news emerged from Brussels at 8 am local time about two blasts at the Zaventem airport in the Belgian capital. An hour later, a blast hit the Maelbeek metro station in the city, causing further panic.
At least 34 people were killed in two explosions that were reported in the airport's departure hall – one of which was caused by a suicide bomber. Twenty other people have been reported killed in an explosion that took place at the metro station located near the European Union headquarters. The Belgian prosecutor confirmed that both were terror attacks.
Details about the perpetrators of the attacks and the exact sequence of events remained sketchy even 12 hours later. The city had been on alert since on Friday, after Salah Abdeslam, the main fugitive in the November 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people, was captured in Brussels.
On social media, cartoons were being used to express both solidarity and defiance with the help of two of Belgium's most popular symbols. People expressed their sorrow by posting modified cartoons of a tearful Tintin and other characters from the series created by the Belgian artist Herge. Others expressed their anger and defiance against terrorism by creating cartoons depicting Manneken Pis, a well-known bronze sculpture in Brussels of a small child urinating into a fountain.
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