Brussels refugee tent camp to be evacuated

Alexander De Croo, federal minister of development policy, has called for the tent campsite in Maximilian Park in Brussels to be cleared and accommodation found elsewhere for the refugees.

“The media of the world are here and trying to show that we are unable to manage the refugee crisis, whereas the reverse is true,” De Croo said. “The time has come for the city of Brussels to say that people can't go on living in a public park like this.”

If he had been mayor, he told newspaper Le Soir, he would not have permitted the situation to deteriorate into what he called “a campsite, a market, almost a music festival”. Brussels-City mayor Yvan Mayeur, meanwhile, pointed the finger at the federal government and asylum minister Theo Francken.

Francken has now made available alternative accommodation for the refugees, in the nearby WTC-III office building close to North Station. Both the WTC and the tent campsite are available to asylum-seekers who are awaiting more permanent accommodation when they have been processed by the Office for Foreigners. Because of the numbers of refugees arriving from Syria, the office cannot process all new arrivals in one day.

The offer of indoor accommodation at WTC was not enthusiastically taken up by the refugees last week because of a lack of privacy compared to the tents and the announcement that it was open to them only evenings and nights. But the government now plans to provide showers and lockers to make the space more appealing, especially to families.

In addition, colder weather is expected to speed up the move of people to WTC. Whether refugees will have access to the building during the day remains to be decided.

The WTC accommodation, however, is too small for the number of people currently housed at the campsite. At present, the tents accommodates 800 to 1,000 refugees, mainly from Syria, Iraq and Eritrea. According to the Citizens’ Platform, the volunteer organisation that helps the Red Cross run the camp, the numbers are growing constantly. The WTC only has room for 500. Mayeur is said to be looking for alternative options.

photo credit: Kevin Van den Panhuyzen/Demotix/Corbis