Another street cleaner attacked in Brussels' North District

After another public hygiene worker was attacked in the northern district of Brussels, street cleaning will no longer be provided in the Rue de Brabant area, Bruxelles Propreté has announced.

Despite measures taken a month ago following a previous attack on a street cleaner - which was also not the first instance - another worker was attacked this week.

Bruxelles Propreté notified the municipality of Schaerbeek, where the initial attack took place, that it would no longer clean the area until measures were taken, and a series of consultations began to restore the situation.

The result was a provisional agreement was reached between the agency and the municipalities of Schaerbeek and Saint-Josse to guarantee the safety of staff in the Brabant district.

The temporary solution consisted of shifting the collection times of the cleaning teams and having "peacekeepers" or police officers accompany them. But according to the management of Bruxelles Propreté, the presence of peacekeepers did not prevent another attack on Tuesday morning.

“On site, and despite the fact that the regional agency's teams are accompanied by local peacekeepers, the safety of the cleaners is far from guaranteed due to the presence of vagrants, who are often under the influence of alcohol or drugs,” management said.

“Under these conditions, Bruxelles Propreté can no longer guarantee the work of its teams in the Brabant district. At the beginning of the week, the staff had already indicated their intention not to continue their work in the area, with the support of the trade unions.”

Bruxelles Propreté is expecting stronger structural measures, such as a wider ban on the sale of alcohol at night and more police patrols in the area.