Several dozen people from the "Stop the reception crisis" collective gathered on Sunday afternoon in front of a building occupied by 70 asylum seekers in Brussels North Quarter to demonstrate for the respect of people's right to reception.
While the asylum seekers who occupied the building (which is set to become the next National Crisis Centre) over the past weeks finally received the accommodation they are legally entitled to in reception centres, many other asylum seekers are still without housing solutions.
"We must celebrate this victory obtained on Thursday by the Justice of the Peace, because these 70 people – who have been living on the streets for months – will finally have a guaranteed roof over their heads until the end of their asylum procedure. It is finally their right to be welcomed that is respected," Marie Doutrepont, one of the asylum seekers' seven lawyers, told Belga News Agency on the scene.
"But we must also remember that there are still 2,400 other asylum seekers whose right to reception is flouted every day, and who to this day have no prospect of improving their situation," she said. "We stand in solidarity with these people. Our clients and ourselves are ready to continue the fight for these people too."
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On Thursday, a Justice of the Peace conducted a conciliation between the Belgian State and these 70 asylum seekers. On the one hand, the State was asking for them to be evicted from the building it owns in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode and which they had taken over on 12 March. On the other hand, the asylum seekers asked to be provided with the dignified accommodation they are entitled to.
Now, half of these asylum seekers will be housed in a Fedasil centre, the federal agency for the reception of asylum seekers, and the other half will be housed in a Brussels-Capital Region accommodation centre by Monday at the latest.
