Behind the Palace of Justice in Brussels, demonstrators walk onto the square and roll out colourful sleeping bags. The early morning sun illuminates the scene. A little later, around seventy Brussels residents are lying side by side on the cold ground. ‘No people on the streets,’ reads a banner.
‘This is what happens when shelter is denied. People sleep outside, in the cold,’ a megaphone announces. Eva Davidova addresses the demonstrators on behalf of Amnesty International, one of the four organisations behind the demonstration.
Shelter is not a given in Belgium, not even for those who may be entitled to asylum. In recent years, Belgium has gradually rolled out a policy that judges describe as a systemic failure. There are structural shortages in shelter, thousands of court rulings are simply not being enforced, and penalty payments remain unpaid.
‘It is particularly painful that the right to asylum is being violated here with the “no reception policy”,’ responds Thomas Willekens, policy officer at Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen.
‘More than 1,800 people seeking protection are literally sleeping on the streets today. Even families with children are being left out in the cold by the government,’ Eva Davidova chants through the megaphone.
The crowd applauds loudly. ‘What do we want?’ ‘Shelter!’ ‘When?’ ‘Now!’
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