The removal of all residents from the asylum seeker squat in the Paleizenstraat in Schaarbeek (Brussels) continues with difficulty. The police say the building where asylum seekers and homeless people took up residence will be entirely cleared today. “Police will ensure there is nobody left in the building” a police spokeswoman says.
The Flemish refugee organisation Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen is incensed by what is going on. After a body was removed from the premises this morning a spokesman for the organisation said: “It’s dreadful that somebody died in the Paleizenstraat. Alas, for us this is no surprise. Yesterday we saw total chaos as a result on a failure to co-ordinate policy. We are seeing it again today. We fear for a repeat of this tragedy as long as the situation of people without accommodation remains desperate”.
The organisation calls for structural solutions including a mandatory dispersal plan and deployment of the army to open extra reception centres.
At lunchtime there was still a massive police presence at the building. Several hundred people were waiting for a bus to take them to a medical screening. This is available to registered asylum seekers, who are then given accommodation as the law requires. Several hundred people were helped yesterday, but says Michel Genet of Doctors of the World “For today there doesn’t seem to be a plan”.
This morning scores of people ended up behind fencing outside the building. Chaos reigned when several people were asked to go back into the building to retrieve belongings. A large group of asylum seekers stormed towards the building’s entrance. They were then placed behind more fencing.
Registered asylum seekers accompanied by officials are being taken by bus to the medical screening centre in small groups. It’s unclear as yet where they are being given accommodation.
A number of people are also believed to be refusing to leave the building.