Brussels-Midi Station has gained a bad reputation among locals and tourists alike for its growing crime rate, yet new figures show that the situation is much more dramatic than in stations in large Flemish cities.
Every year, the number of criminal acts that take place around Brussels-Midi station – where passengers disembark the Eurostar, Thalys and Charleroi Airport shuttle bus – is as high as in all stations of the 13 Flemish central cities combined, De Standaard reported.
"This is an unacceptable situation. With the Eurostar and the Thalys, Brussels-Midi is the international gateway to our country. This is the first thing many foreigners get to see of our country, and it is not a pretty picture," said MP Tomas Roggeman (N-VA). The Flemish separatist politician requested the figures from Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden, a member of the centre-right Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V).
According to the police, the growing crime rate is driven by the rapid rise of crack use in Brussels, which has amplified feelings of insecurity around the station. Meanwhile, many tourists entering the Belgian capital via the southwestern station have complained about the uncleanliness in the area surrounding the country's busiest station.
3,500 crimes per year
Verlinden shared an overview of all police reports drawn up in railway stations between 2018 and 2022. These showed that, in 2020 and 2021, some 3,500 crimes were recorded around the station by the municipality of Saint-Gilles, where it is located, amounting to about 10 per day.
In 2019, before the pandemic reduced the number of people in this vicinity, the figure was even higher, at 4,205. The most common crimes are theft and extortion, followed by drugs.
Meanwhile, the figures showed that in Antwerp, the number of criminal offences in and around its stations varied between 648 and 853, mainly involving thefts. In Ghent it is slightly higher, peaking at 1,003 crimes in 2021. In the stations located in the smaller Flemish towns, a few dozen crimes are recorded every year.
Roggeman believes that many of the issues around the major transport hub are the consequence of "Brussels politicians' lax policy towards drugs," claiming that gang conflicts, brawls and thefts are linked to the issue.
Bruxelles Midi train station in Brussels. Credit: Belga/ Benoit Doppagne
On Friday last week, the CEO of Belgium's national railway operator SNCB, Sophie Dutordoir, sent an open letter to politicians to improve both security and cleanliness around the station. She called for a meeting specifically around Brussels-Midi with all relevant agencies, from the local police zone to the Federal Government.
Roggeman argued that, while the letter was well-intentioned, he doubts it's the right approach. "This way, everyone risks passing the hot potato to each other."
"This is primarily a Brussels problem, it is up to the Brussels police zones to respond to it. They have been given extra resources in recent years, they can use them for this," he said.
In her response, Verlinden also noted that the initiative to solve the matter in this way must come from Brussels' Minister-President Rudi Vervoort, however, he argued that this problem "crosses our regional borders," and that Verlinden is "responsible for security in the whole country as well as for the police, including the railway police."
