2023-12-14 22:35:00
As the cold sets in for a long period in Belgium, the number of homeless people who find themselves on the streets in large cities continues to increase. The reception centers are completely saturated despite the implementation of the respective winter plans and many of these people find themselves left to their own devices in unworthy conditions.
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In this context, more and more informal living spaces are developing in different places, ranging from hotel squats (as was the case near the Place du Jeu de Balles where a fire broke out recently), to metro stations. This is also the case in the parking lot of the federal judicial police where a makeshift camp has been established for eight years, as reported by the DH at the end of October. The situation is also problematic around the Pacheco Red Cross medical center where asylum seekers are rushing to apply for international protection.
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This makeshift camp was dismantled two weeks ago. “I was called by refugees who are surviving around the Pacheco building of the foreigners office. It was the owner of the building who removed everything. The different floors, the access ramp to the floor and all the corridors were emptied. There are only mattresses left downstairs, but all the blankets have been removed. The bags of the people who had their place there were also brought. All their clothes and documents have disappeared,” explains Riet Dhont, PTB municipal councilor and member of the humanitarian association Amitiés sans frontières.
“One boy was really panicked, all his documents had disappeared, there was nothing left. The entrance to passage 44, where the first interviews take place, is also empty and cleaned. There is no one left. The refugees who were there in Pacheco are now without hope,” she adds.
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These people are among the 2,800 refugees seeking international protection who are on the Fedasil waiting list, “including children whose rights are violated”, explains Nancy Ferroni, spokesperson for the Red Cross. “The crisis of the reception has existed for years and there are not enough places to accommodate everyone, despite the implementation of the winter plan. All the centers in Wallonia and Brussels are saturated. Far too many people are meeting up on the street when they do not have to find themselves in this situation. They request international protection and they therefore have the right to be housed in these structural centers and Belgium has already been condemned on numerous occasions in court over this.”
The Gare du Midi to compensate for the lack of reception places
In Brussels, the number of homeless people has increased by 20% in just one year, bringing the total to more than 7,000 people, according to the latest Brussels Help census. In this context, it is planned to keep the Gare du Midi open to the homeless in the event of temperatures equal to or below 0°C. Finally, a tolerance is applied to the Stib for people wandering in the stations even outside operating hours, in the event of temperatures equal to or below 0°C.
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