On Tuesday, nearly 200 police officers carried out an operation to vacate the building in the center of Brussels. Some migrants were placed in special centers. However, at least 200 people remained on the street despite the fact that the Belgian authorities, under the current rules and international obligations, should have provided migrants with temporary accommodation, until they receive a ruling on refugee status request.
Migrants without shelter set up a tent camp outside the Belgian Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers.
"I was in that building that was evacuated. Now we are living right here on the bridge," a Pakistani migrant, who was denied asylum, told the correspondent.
The affected migrants are currently receiving help from local residents and activists, including from the Doctors Without Borders aid group.
The country's authorities have warned about their inability to cope with the flow of migrants, who want to settle in Belgium. Meanwhile, Brussels advocates for a "fair distribution" of refugees among all EU states.
European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said earlier this month that the number of asylum seekers in 2022 had reached 1 million, with another 300,000 illegal entries. Johansson said about 60% of those asylum bids had been from people who did not need international protection.
The European Commission links the heavy workload on migration services with the Ukraine conflict. Last year, the EU faced an influx of millions of Ukrainian refugees who, unlike people from other countries, receive refugee status automatically.