'At the time of writing this, almost every night, all of the refugees in the park find accommodation.' Photo: Lars Hammar / flickr CC.
Love wins
Kate McNally tells a story of love winning in Brussels
Late last summer there were an estimated 600 forced migrants living in a park near the Gare du Nord in Brussels. They were mostly young men, but there were also young women and even some families. They were from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea, Cameroon – countries that are bleeding their young and all the potential they represent into the world.
Most of them were living in the park rather than in accommodation centres because they were merely passing through Brussels and didn’t want to register for asylum in Belgium. The Belgian minister for asylum and migration was quoted as saying that if they didn’t want to stay in Belgium they were not his problem.
They were living in terrible conditions. The police took their pitifully few possessions while they slept and then took their sleeping bags while they were awake. It is reported that traffickers hovered around, and young women were routinely propositioned for sex. Police were dangerous. Strangers were dangerous. In an effort to ‘avoid a second Calais in Brussels’, the police began to arrest migrants in the interests of ‘public order’. They arrested people as they stood in line for food. People were put in detention centres and sent back to the countries they had been forced to leave. Some local residents, including Quakers, took food to the park at odd times in order to avoid queues that would attract the police.
In early September, Quakers who had gathered in Brussels for the annual Border Meeting collected funds and prepared 115 sacks of food and toiletries. These were delivered to the park.
A Meeting for Worship was held there with some refugees attending. It was a very emotional experience for many who participated. People living nearby, concerned about the treatment of the people in the park, opened their doors to the young migrants. Others living farther away went to the park and picked people up and took them home for a shower and a hot meal. Some offered a place for the night free from police harassment. A group of volunteers, working with the charity Plateforme Citoyenne de soutien aux réfugiés Bruxelles, began to post stories on their Facebook page and to encourage local residents to offer a place for migrants to spend the night. Plateforme Citoyenne began to organise volunteers to house people overnight, and in August launched the initiative ‘Park Maximilien without women’, to find accommodation for the women and children living in the park and the nearby train station. Slowly, as the weather began to cool, citizens of Brussels came every night to offer a warm place to sleep and a meal. The police stopped the arrests and harassment of the migrants.
Through Plateform Citoyenne’s Facebook page, smaller neighbourhood groups have formed. They share the tasks of ferrying people from the park, cooking appropriate food, and washing clothes while their guests sleep. Those who participate report receiving much more than they give in terms of human warmth and compassion. At the time of writing this, almost every night, all of the refugees in the park find accommodation.
Comments
A very heart-warming story.
Would that this spark kindle the fire of compassion to break out in many other parts of the globe.
By andavane on 24th December 2017 - 2:04
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