"‘Very Irritating Police’ needed to check masturbating and pooping at Brussels Airport"

Homeless people and drug addicts are reportedly harassing passengers and behaving in a disruptive fashion. The lawmaker has received several emails and photos about the incidents and is going to ask interior minister, Bernard Quintin (Francophone liberal MR), for a specific federal police team to be deployed at the air hub.  He is also eager to see security companies given greater powers at the airport. Bergers is very reluctant to see the airport become 'a second Brussels-South’, a reference to the woes at the Brussels South railway station.

‘There are people hanging around here.  There’s filth, obscenities, drug use, but also people masturbating in public or, to put it bluntly, “pooping” in front of the check-in queue. I received several emails about this and there are also photos of the incidents,’ Bergers says.

‘This really can't go on any longer. This is the gateway to the Flanders, the first thing tourists and businesspeople see when they arrive here. We need to take much stricter action. The airport is also the second largest economic employer in Flanders’.

Social services provides helping hand

The airport operator says it is working with Vilvoorde social services to tackle the problem of homelessness at the airport. It confirms that there have been incidents at the airport building but has not yet received a response from the federal police.

Bergers is suggesting that the federal police send a VIP team (‘Very Irritating Police’) to the airport to make it clear to homeless people, drug addicts and criminals that aggressive behaviour and indecent behaviour will not be tolerated at Belgium’s premier airport.

He also wants private security services to be given the authority to carry out border checks under police supervision, so that more police officers are available to maintain order.