Around 30 people staying at 44 Boulevard Pacheco were evacuated on Wednesday morning. Migrant organisations are critical of the "inhumane" displacement and a failure to forewarn people of the eviction.
Police performed a clean-up of the site early on Wednesday morning. They reportedly confiscated the belongings of 30 migrants living in tents in the area.
People on the waiting list for asylum were first moved to Pacheco in 2022 when residents near the asylum arrival centre Le Petit Château in the city centre complained about a proliferation of tents around the canal. Now, the group has been moved again, this time to Rue Belliard.
Asylum seekers in tents in front of Le Petit Château being asked to leave by the police. Credit: Belga / Laurie Dieffembacq
They have been displaced again because the building where the Immigration Office's registration point was located until now has been acquired by KU Leuven. Works will soon begin to convert the site into a 21,000 m2 campus.
The registration point has been moved to Rue Belliard and is expected to stay there for around a year and a half. After this, a more permanent location will be chosen.
In an open letter addressed to City of Brussels Mayor Philippe Close (PS) and to KU Leuven, the Anti-Expulsion Front and the Ades Network criticised a "an inhumane situation."
"No official information was released regarding the eviction and no housing solutions were offered," they said. "These people have nowhere else to go."
'Unsuitable' new site
This is not the first time people waiting for asylum have had their belongings confiscated at Pacheco. In December last year, a private company seized and threw away mattresses, tents and rucksacks at the request of Belfius (the previous building owner).
There are around 4,000 people on the waiting list for asylum. Belgium has therefore breached international law by failing to welcome international protection applicants and provide them with accommodation.
In September, the Council of Europe reiterated its condemnation of the State's failure to take steps to resolve the reception crisis.
Another non-profit Friendship Without Borders says the new location on Rue Belliard is "unsuitable" and will make the distribution of a weekly hot breakfast more challenging.
"There are cars speeding past, fast cyclists, and now also refugees, who are wedged between the barriers and the wall of Rue Belliard," Riet Dhont from Friendship Without Borders told Belga News Agency. "The breakfast we offer every Friday is going to become very complicated. But we will continue."
