CPAS employees and social workers have stormed the office of Anderlecht mayor Fabrice Cumps (PS) as part of a protest against understaffing and poor working conditions.
The demonstration began at 09:30 on Tuesday morning and continued into the afternoon with a group of 60 protestors sitting on the ground until Cumps came out to speak to them.
They then went upstairs and stormed the mayor's office until he came out. Cumps promised an additional €1 million for CPAS to put in place structural reforms.
The centre, which is responsible for distributing unemployment benefits, came under fire at the end of last year after VRT's investigative programme Pano revealed that payments were being given to people who neither lived in the municipality nor were entitled to those benefits, alongside allegations of cronyism.
'We're not leaving'
The CPAS staff are calling for respect from the mayor, appreciation for their work and additional resources to address the issues at CPAS and reduce their workload.
"We’re not leaving," social worker Dyhia Elmaouhab told Belga News Agency. At around 11:00, under her lead, the group sat down and loudly demanded the mayor address them. "We will wait here until the mayor comes down to speak with us. He tends to hide in his office and ignore us." Not long after, Elmaouhab led the group to the second floor.
Cumps criticised the mode of protest and called for a return to calm while awaiting a solution.
Guy Wilmart (PS) is the new CPAS president in Anderlecht. He attempted to calm the protestors. "Although it is very complicated, we are doing our utmost to improve the situation," he said. "But that requires additional resources, and as the mayor has said: they are now available. We will try to build a new structure."
