Parc Maximilien camp dismantled but 100 people remain

The former refugee camp set up by the Red Cross in Brussels’ Parc Maximilien is almost completely dismantled, as the newly arrived asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, move to the WTC office tower nearby for winter accommodation. Yet more than 100 people have remained in the park.

Those remaining are so-called sans-papiers, people without a residence permit for Belgium, some of them rejected asylum-seekers. They had joined the newly arrived refugees to occupy the park, obtaining shelter in the tent city as well as food, clothing and, in some cases, language lessons and jobs advice.

Some 186 refugee families have been taken in by host families; the rest have moved to the WTC. For the sans-papiers, however, there is no shelter option. They are here illegally, some of them for years. The citizens’ group Burgerplatform, which has been carrying out day-to-day operations at the camp, have left some tents, provided by Doctors Without Borders, for those who are staying.

For the latest asylum seekers, operations have now moved to the WTC III tower, while Burgerplatform has taken over a hangar on Quai de Willebroek by the canal to carry on with the services it previously provided in the camp: psychological counselling, legal advice, medical assistance and laundry services.

Meanwhile, the sans-papiers remain in the tent camp. “We support the sans-papiers in their fight,” Burgerplatform said in a statement, “but our most pressing concern is to find a solution for the refugees who continue to stream in day after day.” According to the group, some 5,000 refugees passed through the camp in Parc Maximilien.

September saw the arrival of 5,472 new asylum seekers in Brussels, the highest number ever recorded, according to federal migration minister Theo Francken. Nearly 28% were fleeing the war in Syria.

Photo: Anadolu/Belga