A Belgian soldier stands guard around a security perimeter (Picture: Getty Images)

Brussels is under lockdown tonight as police carry out operations across the city.

Speculation is rife on social media – but officials have asked Belgians and the press not to share any details about the operations on social media.

So now people are flooding Twitter with pictures of cats to confuse terrorists.

MORE: Brussels in lockdown as police carry out raids


MORE: Brussels on lockdown as police continue hunt for Paris attacks fugitive

Je propose une dernière recrue pour en finir et libérez #Bruxelles ? #BrusselsLockdown bonne nuit les bruxellois ? pic.twitter.com/2D0uFzchX5 — Firda (@Firda_Ous) November 22, 2015

Armed forces swooped on the Belgian capital earlier this evening, guarding hotels and telling locals to stay inside, according to local reports.

Guests at the Radisson Blu were reportedly told to stay inside as the hotel came under heavy guard.



Soldiers were pictured surrounding the building this evening.

A spokesperson for the hotel told DeMorgen: ‘There is no imminent threat, but we want our guests to keep as safe as possible.’

MORE: Paris attacks fugitive ‘visited gay bars, flirted with men and took drugs’

A police operation is believed to have carried out tonight (Picture: Getty Images)

Belgian police block a road leading to the city centre (Picture: EPA/STEPHANIE LECOCQ)

Soldiers stands guard over the Grand Place of Brussels (Picture: REUTERS/Yves Herman)

The alert comes after ten jihadists attacked a Radisson Blu hotel in Mali and held around 170 people hostage.

At least 27 people were killed in the raid.

It has since emerged that the terrorists were hunting members of an Air France crew which were believed to have been staying there at the time.

Members of special forces are seen inside the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako (Picture: Barcroft Media) Members of special forces are seen inside the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako… Soldiers from the presidential guard patrol outside the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali (Picture: AP Photo/Jerome Delay) Soldiers from the presidential guard patrol outside the Radisson Blu hotel in… A room is seen in the Radisson hotel in Bamako, Mali (Picture: Reuters) A room is seen in the Radisson hotel in Bamako, Mali (Picture: Reuters) UN officials exit the Radisson hotel in Bamako, Mali, November 20, 2015 (Picture: Reuters) UN officials exit the Radisson hotel in Bamako, Mali, November 20, 2015… Bullet holes are seen at a staircase of the Radisson hotel in Bamako, Mali (Picture: Reuters) Bullet holes are seen at a staircase of the Radisson hotel in Bamako, Mali… Malian officials carry a corpse outside the Radisson hotel in Bamako (Picture: Reuters) Malian officials carry a corpse outside the Radisson hotel in Bamako (Picture:…

Brussels has endured a heightened terror alert since the Paris atrocities.

It will see Brussels in lock-down for a third day as the international community prepares to intensify action against Islamic State.

Belgian prime minister Charles Michel said schools, universities and the underground system would have to remain closed tomorrow amid fears of a repeat of the simultaneous gun and bomb attacks in the French capital.

Key suspect Salah Abdeslam is just one of several feared to be at large in the city, where the usually thronged streets have been eerily quiet.