Twitter users in Belgium combat terror lockdown with cat pictures

For Twitter users in Brussels, the answer was obvious — you obey the police request, help defuse tensions, and defy the terror threat by filling the #BrusselsLockdown hashtag with arguably the internet's most meme-able animal — cats.

Belgian police said there were "various operations underway" in the country linked to a "terrorist threat", and on Saturday Brussels was put on maximum security alert.

While people initially tweeted pictures of police standing guard at hotels and roadblocks in the streets, police made the request asking for "radio silence" regarding the operation.