Arrests, abuse and intimidation are becoming a common sight at two places in Brussels where migrants have gathered.

According to the Belgian League of Human Rights (LDH) and Defence for Children International (DCI), the way that police officers and other relevant authorities are dealing with the situation of migrants, including children, who have been staying for several months in Maximilien Park and the Brussels North train station, amount to inhuman and degrading treatment.

Both NGOs have lodged a complaint with the prosecutor general of Brussels.

Volunteers step up

Since the beginning of the year, hundreds of migrants from the Middle East and Africa have been trying to reach the UK from Brussels. While waiting, the majority of them have been staying in Maximilien Park and the Brussels North train station. Since the migrants arrived, Belgian authorities have not taken any steps to tackle the predictable problems that such a situation could cause on humanitarian, security and health levels.

With no accommodation, these people, including families and children, are only receiving assistance from volunteers and associations who bring them food, clothes, bedding and hygienic supplies.

Police raids

The repeated police operations are making their living conditions particularly tough, to such an extent that these conditions can be considered as inhuman and degrading treatment. During regular police operations at the two locations, which are carried out approximately every two days, early in the morning or late in the night, the tents, sleeping bags, clothes and shoes belonging to the migrants are taken away from them. This is done on the basis that some migrants flee the police, fearing arrest, and have thus 'abandoned' their things.

These practices cannot be tolerated and can be described as raids. Many people are arrested, handcuffed and taken by the police, and officers sometimes use violence for no reason. Among those arrested were 11 unaccompanied minors, detained during a police raid last week. People who are helping the migrants and witness the police raids are sometimes victims of these operations.

Acts of cruelty

In response to this situation, which is tarnishing Belgium’s reputation, LDH and DCI have decided to lodge a complaint with the prosecutor general of the city of Brussels, in the hope that an in-depth investigation into the actions of the police will be undertaken.

This complaint focuses mainly on the police raids, which the NGOs argue breach articles 417bis and 151 of the Criminal Code, among other things.

According to the two NGOs, the actions of some police officers can be described as acts of cruelty given the situation that these men, women and children are currently facing. The situation is so critical that even the NGO Médecins du Monde (Doctors of the World) is now launching appeals in order to obtain the support of volunteer medical staff.