A man accused of terrorism who tried to cause a "bloodbath" in the Miss Belgium contest

Emilie Vansteenkiste was crowned Miss Belgium this Saturday at La Panne.KURT DESPLENTER (AFP)

An examining magistrate in Bruges (Belgium) has ordered this Sunday the preventive detention of a man who intended to attack the Miss Belgium contest on Saturday to cause a "bloodbath" and whom he has accused of attempted terrorist murder, according to reports. reported to the Federal Prosecutor's Office.

The suspect, 46-year-old Peter C., was arrested Saturday afternoon in the Belgian seaside town of La Panne, very close to where the national beauty pageant was to begin shortly after.

The individual, about whom there are few details at the moment, was armed with a pistol and, in his car, another rifle and a bulletproof vest were found.

Along with the man, a woman of “Dutch nationality” who was accompanying him was arrested and on whom, for the moment, the judge has not made any decision.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, it is not clear if the woman, of whom no further details have been disclosed, was aware of the alleged attacker's plans.

The alarms went off when Peter C., a man originally from Lommel, in the north of Belgium, who was not on the radar of the police or the secret services, sent an email to his ex-wife, from whom he would have separated at late last year, announcing his intention to commit a "bloodbath", according to Belgian media.

She quickly contacted the police, who deployed en masse around the theater in La Panne, very close to the French border, where the beauty pageant was to be held and managed to arrest the suspect before he could commit the attack.

According to the VRT station, the man, who was driving a rented car and had bought two tickets for the contest, was stopped in the parking lot of the theater along with the woman who accompanied him.

At the time of his arrest, he had a pistol in his pocket.

No one resisted his arrest.

"The investigation has revealed that [the alleged attacker] potentially intended to commit an attack during the Miss Belgium election that was to take place a little later" after his arrest, around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, he had initially revealed the Belgian prosecutor's office, according to which the motives of the suspect "are not clear".

The Belgian Minister of the Interior, Annelies Verlinden, celebrated the police action that, according to her, she said in a tweet, managed to "thwart a possible attack".

The Miss Belgium pageant started somewhat later than planned, but without further incident.

The lawyer for the alleged attacker has denied to the

newspaper that his client wanted to cause a massacre.

"Not in 100 million years would I have committed an attack on Miss Belgium," Walter Van Steenbrugge assured the Flemish newspaper.

The defendant must appear in the next five days before a court of first instance in Bruges, which will decide on his future, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

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