Targeting those who help - is targeting those who need help: safe.brussels launches a new awareness campaign

As end-of-year celebrations approach, safe.brussels is launching a new awareness campaign called "Targeting those who help, is targeting those who need help".

Their goal? To show young people and adolescents the importance of respecting the emergency services (such as firefighters, ambulance drivers, and police officers), whose role in keeping everyone safe is essential. Every second lost by men and women of the emergency services is a second lost for saving lives.

A worrying reality for teams on the ground

In recent years, New Year's Eve has become a particularly tense time for emergency services and rescue teams in the Brussels Region.
 

3 out of 10 firefighters feel particularly unsafe on New Year's Eve

The New Year's Eve Flash Paper from the safe.brussels Observatory shows that last year, once again, members of the emergency services were targeted with fireworks, and some police vehicles were damaged, delaying vital emergency services.

This behaviour, which is often linked to attention-seeking, sensation-seeking, or creating dramatic content for social media, isn't trying to get anyone hurt. But it has real-life consequences:

• staff are assaulted or injured,
• crucial interventions are delayed,
• and at the end of the day... people in danger don't get the help they need in time.

It's precisely this link between the two that the campaign is aiming to highlight.

« Targeting those who help, is targeting those who need help"

The campaign takes a direct, committed, and empathetic tone, and is trying to show, clearly and without judgment, how some things people think are "fun" or "spectacular" can put other people's lives at risk.

Sophie Lavaux, Director general of safe.brussels: "When a firework hits a firefighter or damages an emergency vehicle, it puts people's lives in danger. If you target people who help, you're targeting people who need help, which is why I'm calling on everyone to help make sure that our emergency services can do their job effectively."

A  100% digital campaign

The campaign will go live between December 22, 2025 and January 3, 2026 through various channels, depending on the target audiences:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Snapchat

Safe.brussels is aiming to use this campaign, which will adopt the visual and narrative codes used by the target audience of each form of social media, to convey a simple message: if you attack the emergency services, you have a direct impact on the people of Brussels who are counting on them to survive, be treated, or be rescued.
 

The New Year's Eve Flash Paper from the safe.brussels Observatory, summarising the main facts and findings from New Year's Eve incidents, is also available for download here.