Talk:Square Sainctelette

What is the name of the square?

According the website of the municipality of the City of Brussels [1] the spelling is as follows: French and English Square Sainctelette Dutch Sainctelettesquare Dutch wiki [2] uses the same terms "Sainctelettesquare (Frans: Square Sainctelette)". There is no article in French wiki. So I have changed the names in the intro, although open to debate. If the names stand the article will need a name change. Something seems to have gone a bit wrong with the map. I will also change the street names according to Wikipedia:WikiProject Belgium/Brussels naming conventions. Southdevonian (talk) 09:44, 24 October 2023 (UTC)

Some French media are however referring to it as place Sainctelette with reference to the recent shooting.[3] Southdevonian (talk) 10:49, 24 October 2023 (UTC)

Hi again Southdevonian,

Sainctelette Area Brussels

To answer your question, both names actually co-exist but refer to slightly different places, though they are in the continuation of one another. The Square Sainctelette/Sainctelettesquare is in the City of Brussels, on the eastern side of the Brussels-Charleroi Canal. It faces the Place Sainctelette/Saincteletteplein located on the other (western) side of the canal, in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean/Sint-Jans-Molenbeek. The distinction is explained in the following article [4] of the Brussels Heritage Inventory (in French/Dutch). This close proximity in both naming and location causes some confusion in the media and amongst Brussels' residents, who tend to refer to both places by either name indiscriminately. I do not know the intentions of the article's original writer, but it indeed seems to relate to the City of Brussels' Square Sainctelette through its references, so I would agree to rename it accordingly. Since the site of the 2023 Brussels attack was next to the Square Sainctelette, I would also suggest correcting it in that dedicated article. Thank you too for having changed the other names according to the naming conventions. Jason Lagos (talk) 14:55, 24 October 2023 (UTC)

Update: I have renamed this page and changed the link in the article about the attack myself since I was editing them anyway. Jason Lagos (talk) 16:50, 24 October 2023 (UTC)

Thanks Jason Lagos for the explanation and link to heritage article. I think I understand now. Southdevonian (talk) 21:27, 24 October 2023 (UTC)

And thanks for map Jason Lagos. I can see the building on the corner where the memorial is, but where was the taxi? Do we know? Southdevonian (talk) 21:15, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

You are very welcome. Per your follow-up question, Belgian media reports talk about the start of the attack taking place at the intersection of the Boulevard du Neuvième de Ligne/Negende Linielaan and the Boulevard d'Ypres/Ieperlaan, just off the south-western corner of the square (i.e. to the immediate left of the red circle on the map above). To my knowledge, there is no video footage of the taxi part of the shooting, so I can only rely on these statements for an approximate location. The footage does show the second victim being shot in the foyer of the building I circled. Therefore, one can only assume the taxi was parked at the junction of those two boulevards, right in front of the building, or in its immediate vacinity. Jason Lagos (talk) 09:30, 26 October 2023 (UTC)

I expect we will learn more later, especially if there is a trial of possible accomplices. I think the term you used here "just off" is better than "right next to" so I will change it in the attack article. It is just a nuance, but "right next to" suggests there was something significant about Square Sainctelette, as you might say for example "he opened fire right next to the parliament building". Southdevonian (talk) 10:27, 26 October 2023 (UTC)

OK - I agree with the change of wording and also did it here accordingly. Jason Lagos (talk) 12:23, 26 October 2023 (UTC)