A group of dozens of associations in Brussels have written an open letter to authorities decrying the state of insecurity at the Brussels Midi train station and noting the high rates of crime, drug use, knife violence, and verbal attacks toward ‘LGBT’ persons.
The open letter, which was addressed to the Minister-President of the Brussels region along with the mayors of Brussels, Molenbeek, Saint-Jose, Saint-Gilles, and Anderlecht, was published in full by the newspaper 7sur7 and states, among other things:
Our neighbourhoods are facing increasing numbers of refugees, homeless people, beggars, [and] wandering people in our streets and squares, in parks, metro stations, and train stations. Many of them are undocumented, have little or no connection to the environment in which they find themselves, and have nothing to lose. To this phenomenon, after COVID-19, was added the consumption and trafficking of crack…
In our view, Brussels is facing a growing problem that is making daily life difficult for more and more people…
The list goes on, alarm bells ring. They are all going through the same thing. Increasing violence in public spaces (dead in the subway; fights in the streets, with or without knives or other weapons), a general feeling of insecurity, poignant scenes of decay of people who imagine themselves in a parallel world, dirty streets and train stations with drug waste, food scraps, and excrement, An increasing number of “small” thefts from cars, buildings, and handbags because, although cheap, crack cocaine has to be paid…
This situation threatens to disintegrate our urban social fabric: people no longer want to see their children grow up here and move; the elderly no longer dare to go out on the street at night; teenagers are no longer allowed by their parents to go to school alone by metro; parents no longer dare to let their children play in sports fields and parks; women and LGBTQIA+ people are confronted with sexist and derogatory language…
Why not deploy more police on the streets, municipal guards, [and] street workers, as well as counselling, medical assistance, [and] housing if necessary, for people facing these problems? …
In our neighbourhoods, we have the feeling that the government, the state, is too often absent and that in the streets, it is the law of the strongest that prevails. Our problems are not new; they persist and worsen day by day. Attacks in public spaces are multiplying. We need sustainable solutions. As quickly as possible…
The open letter comes less than a year after it was reported that the Belgian city of Antwerp was suffering similar scenes of insecurity and violence due to conflict among gangs that control the European cocaine market.
Residents have reported being terrorised by the violence between the gangs, who use various forms of violence, including hand grenades. Prosecutors claimed to have noted at least 200 violent incidents in the last five years linked to the drug trade.
