Recent incidents of drug violence have put the Peterbos housing estate in Anderlecht in the spotlight. Situated in the west of the Capital Region, residents of the high-rise apartments have sounded the alarm about drug gangs that have overrun the neighbourhood.
Home to around 4,000 people, the estate made headlines in 2021 when it was revealed that around 100 police operations had been carried out, largely related to drug trafficking. Several homes were raided with the aim of "giving Peterbos back to residents" and for a while, things calmed down.
However, in the summer of 2023 the situation again deteriorated as violent gangs reasserted their influence, mainly dealing in coke and cannabis. Some of the criminals have links to Marseille, the southern French city notorious for drug violence. Earlier this week, reports highlighted that the situation around Scheutveld Park (at the centre of the estate) has become even more severe.
€70,000 per month for security
The neighbourhood has fallen under the control of former residents, including teenagers and minors as young as 10, who have links to drug clans in Marseille, Het Laatste Nieuws reported. The ringleader is allegedly in prison but runs the business from behind bars.
Masked dealers have even been seen blocking access roads and carrying out ID checks for people entering the area, as well as threatening and intimidating locals. Rival gangs settle scores in broad daylight, sometimes with fatal shootings.
Security firm G4S is responsible for resetting fire alarm systems in the buildings but staff have refused to enter Peterbos owing to a lack of security. Residents of Peterbos 9, a social housing tenement run by Anderlechtse Haard, have spoken of the omnipresence of drug dealers. The company has been paying an external security company €70,000 per month to protect construction workers carrying out renovations.
The Peterbos housing estate in Anderlecht, Brussels. Credit: Belga/ Hatim Kaghat
Lotfi Mostefa (PS) – chair of Anderlechtse Haard – warned of the dire state of affairs and spoke of a flurry of resident complaints. In an open letter to Brussels Minister-President Rudi Vervoort (PS) and Federal Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden (CD&V), the organisation raised its concerns and called for intervention from the federal police.
Local police response
Local police have previously called for assistance, with Jurgen De Landsheer (chief of police of the Brussels police zone Midi) saying that his officers are not sufficiently equipped to tackle the problem.
But responding to the latest reports, he denied that the Peterbos neighbourhood is a no-go zone for police and said that local police are present every day to ensure the safety of children playing. De Landsheer called for a discussion to decide the tasks of the local police and where federal forces might intervene.
Anderlecht councillor Gilles Verstraeten (N-VA) argued that merging the Brussels police zones is the only possible solution to the problem, though De Landsheer cautions that a unified police zone "will only take the police further away from the population" at a time when locals want police close to hand. The idea of installing a police station in the neighbourhood was also rejected due to staff shortages.
De Landsheer said that handling the Peterbos neighbourhood would divert the attention of his police zone from all other duties. He spoke of the structural underfunding of Brussels police forces. For instance, the Midi police zone currently has a 20% deficit, equal to a shortage of 200 police officers.
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Both De Landsheer and Anderlecht mayor Fabrice Cumps (PS) stressed that efforts must focus on cutting the criminal network. In addition, Cumps argued for more prosecution of drug users to cut demand.
Despite the severity of the situation, Cumps believes that things in Anderlecht are no worse than in Antwerp. Anderlecht authorities will hold discussions with safe.brussels – which oversees security in the Brussels-Capital Region – as well as the National Drug Commissioner.
The Brussels Public Prosecutor's office confirmed in a press conference on Wednesday (following the recent shootings in Brussels) that the presence of Marseille gangs remains a problem. However spokesperson Willemien Baert told The Brussels Times that the link between this week's shootings and gangs in Peterbos has yet to be ascertained.
