The Brussels-Capital Region is determined to evict a squat housing 80 people (including 30 children) by Monday, the "final deadline" after multiple eviction attempts.
Asylum reception agency Fedasil intends to convert the site, a former nursing home on Avenue de la Couronne in Ixelles, into a centre with capacity for 350 asylum seekers by 15 July. A second building near Montgomery has been set aside for the squatters to occupy, but the collective leading the initiative says the necessary steps have not been taken to ensure this transition.
"It is currently unclear when we will be able to move into that new building," a Rockin'Squat spokesperson told Bruzz. "What is clear is that we will be on the street on 8 July, while we can only move into the new building once the agreement has been signed. It is absurd." In addition, safety regulations in the new building have not yet been carried out.
Frustration on both sides
Officials involved in the dispute have expressed frustration at the collective's stance. "We have been helping this collective for months," said Ixelles mayor Christos Doulkeridis (Ecolo). "We have looked for another building, but since the beginning they have not wanted to leave the current building even though everything is ready there."
Rockin'Squat disagrees with this version of events. "It is us and not the municipality who found the next building we are going to occupy," they stated in an online post. "The Brussels-Capital Region helped us to negotiate an occupation agreement with the property owner, [but] to this day, nothing has been signed and we still don’t have access to the building."
That being said, "it is true that Doulkeridis has supported us in the past, notably by initiating negotiations with Fedasil and Nicole De Moor’s cabinet," they added.
The squat opened in January. The last eviction attempt took place on 19 June but a large demonstration succeeded in halting the removal.
