CRI听力:Citing Security Concerns, Brussels Cancels March

"The March Against Fear" was scheduled to take place in Brussels on Sunday, as a sign of solidarity and defiance of Tuesday's terror attacks.

However, citing limited police power, Belgium's Interior Minister Jan Jambon on Saturday called on the demonstrators to postpone the event.

"We are still, all over the country, in threat level three, there are enquiries, important enquiries going on. For these enquiries we need a lot of police capacity all over the country and it's our main priority to let the police in the best circumstances possible to do these enquiries. And that is the reason why we invite citizens tomorrow not to demonstrate, not to have this manifestation tomorrow and to report it to a later date."

Belgium on Thursday lowered its security alert level to three from the highest possible of four.

On Saturday, three people were charged with terrorism in connection with the attacks.

Heeding the advice of the Interior Minister, the march's organizer Emmanuel Foulon says the event will be postponed.

"I think the most important is the safety of the citizens. So of course we wanted to organize a march, but if there is any risk we have to cancel. We will postpone it, and there will be demonstrations organized or not organized, because people need to be together, and to live together, and they need also to have solidarity in their life. They stopped speaking to each other from Tuesday, now they begin to re-open themselves and like we were living in Paris, we need these steps now to live together and to rebuild a new life."

Thousands were expected to attend the march, which was meant to start at the city's stock exchange.

Meanwhile, the service sector in Belgium is feeling the impact of Tuesday's events. An employee of the Maison Dandoy bakery chain in Brussels says business has slowed down quite a bit.

"For the moment, we feel the slowdown, especially with Easter coming, it creates a loss of income for us. Compared with a normal Saturday, it feels empty and quiet. But we still hope that it will pick up again quickly."

However, others have seen more positive signs.

Lara Nardella takes tourists by horse and cart around Brussels.

"Today is the first day we started horse-cart driving since the attacks. We expected a lot less people, so we are pleasantly surprised that people are still going out and the weather is nice. We are not operating like on a normal day but we are surprised to be working at all. It is quite positive to see that people want to keep on with their lives no matter what and go sightseeing."

On the streets of Brussels, some tourists told reporters they remain cautious but are determined not to let Tuesday's events deter them.

For CRI, I'm Victor Ning.