Des sans papiers algériens réclament un titre de séjour en Belgique

[Al-khiyal]

Des sans papiers algériens réclament un titre de séjour en Belgique

Jeudi 24 Avril 2008 -- Deux immigrants algériens sans-papiers ont passé leur deuxième nuit jeudi perchés en haut d'une grue à Bruxelles, juste à côté de l'Office municipal des étrangers, pour réclamer un titre de séjour, selon la police locale.

Ils sont accompagnés d'un troisième ressortissant algérien, qui lui bénéficie d'un titre de séjour mais réclame sa naturalisation belge. Un quatrième homme était redescendu de la grue mercredi en raison de problèmes médicaux.

Leur action de protestation a démarré mardi lorsqu'ils ont escaladé la grue, située sur un chantier à proximité de l'Office des étrangers de la ville, qui gère les dossiers administratifs des migrants. Des négociations engagées depuis 48 heures par les autorités pour les faire redescendre n'ont rien donné.
L'Office des étrangers a jugé la situation préoccupante. La police doit entamer de nouvelles négociations dans la journée.

Il y a un peu plus de deux semaines, une cinquantaine de sans-papiers, dont des femmes et des enfants, avaient occupé un bâtiment de l'Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) pour réclamer leur régularisation.

Jusqu'ici le ministre de l'Intérieur, le libéral flamand Patrick Dewael, refuse des régularisations en bloc. Mais le tout nouveau gouvernement belge d'Yves Leterme a décidé d'ouvrir la voie à une "immigration économique" qui devrait permettre la régularisation d'un certain nombre d'"étrangers en situation illégale disposant d'une offre de travail ferme".

[Al-khiyal]

Immigrants hold crane-top protest in Belgium

April 24, 2008 -- Four Algerian immigrants on Thursday began a third day protesting atop a crane in Brussels, in a high-level campaign near to the municipal immigration office.

Two of the men are seeking residency rights while the third, who has already been granted the right to stay, wants to become a naturalised Belgian.

A fourth protester came down from the crane on Wednesday with medical problems but may have returned as four figures were clearly visible on the crane on Thursday morning.

The protest action began on Tuesday when the men climbed up the crane situated on a building site near the city's immigration office, dealing with claims from migrants.

Forty-eight hours of negotiation by Belgian authorities failed to persuade the men to come down.

Police began fresh talks with the protesters on Thursday but with no immediate result.

Three of the Algerians climbed down to talk to officers but soon returned to their perch.

Two weeks ago, about 50 illegal immigrants, including women and children, occupied a building of the Free University of Brussels to claim regularisation.

So far, Interior Minister Patrick Dewael has refused any mass immigration amnesty but the new government of Prime Minister Yves Leterme has decided to introduce a new "economic immigration" plan that could allow illegal immigrants with steady work to stay on.

[Al-khiyal]

Quatre sans-papiers algériens évacués d'une grue

Vendredi 25 Avril 2008 -- Les pompiers de Bruxelles ont procédé vendredi à l'évacuation de quatre sans-papiers algériens qui occupaient depuis plusieurs jours une grue pour réclamer un titre de séjour, ont rapporté les médias belges. Tôt mardi matin, trois Algériens étaient monté sur cette grue, située en face de l'Office des étranger, pour réclamer que cet organisme dépendant du ministère de l'Intérieur régularise leur situation. Ils avaient été rejoints par un quatrième homme mercredi soir.

Les quatre sans-papiers s'étaient installés sur une passerelle située sous le poste de pilotage, à environ 40 mètres de hauteur, sans possibilité d'être ravitaillés, l'accès à la grue étant interdit par des policiers. L'Office des étrangers avait exclu de les régulariser sous la pression. «On ne peut pas répondre à leur demande. On ne peut pas leur offrir un traitement de faveur en raison de leur action. On peut éventuellement réexaminer leur dossier au même titre que tous les demandeurs, mais leur dossier ne pourra être prioritaire", avait expliqué la porte-parole de l'Office.

Vendredi matin, les quatre hommes ont accepté de descendre et d'être pris en charge par les pompiers, qui les ont conduit vers un hôpital pour un examen médical, selon la télévision privée RTL-TVI.

[Al-khiyal]

Asylum seekers occupy construction cranes across Belgian capital in protest action

BRUSSELS, Belgium, July 29, 2008: Thirty asylum seekers are staging a sit-in on top of six cranes at construction sites across Brussels demanding rights to work and live in Belgium.

The group of mostly Algerian nationals started to occupy cranes Sunday evening at a site near the city's historic Grand Place market square. They are also occupying two cranes near European Union headquarters.

The protesters are frustrated with delays in processing their application to stay in the country, which they entered illegally.

Freddy Roosemont, from the government's immigration affairs office, told VRT television Tuesday the protest is dangerous and won't force authorities to grant the demonstrators automatic rights to stay.

Construction unions are warning the protests could hold up their work.

[Al-khiyal]

Taking to the cranes

July 31, 2008 -- Illegal immigrants in Belgium have found a new form of protest in their efforts to secure a residence permit. For the past week they have been occupying giant construction cranes in Brussels. But Belgian officials say they will not negotiate - and like so many issues in Belgium, this one is also split down linguistic lines.

In recent months, it has become fairly common for illegal immigrants in the European capital of Brussels to go on hunger strikes to protest for the right to legal residency. This week, though, they deployed a dramatic new tactic in their fight to stay on European shores: They've been occupying the city's construction cranes at dizzying heights of up to 50 meters (164 feet) above the skyline.

Since Sunday, more than 40 illegal immigrants from countries like Morocco, Algeria, Rwanda and the Congo have been climbing cranes around the city, including sites near the offices of the European Union, and demanding they be issued residence permits.

Last week, the Belgian government granted temporary, 90-day residency permits to 39 illegal immigrants who had gone on a hunger strike. The strikes have become a common way for illegals or rejected asylum-seekers to try to stay in Belgium. In a number of instances, illegal immigrants have been granted a temporary reprieve from deportation. The crane climbers, some of whom were also conducting hunger and thirst strikes, demanded the same.

But after a court ruling that they could be forcibly removed from their perches, police succeeded in talking most of the immigrants into climbing down on Wednesday. But late the same night, one man fell while trying to climb down, sustaining non-life-threatening injuries.

The country's immigration minister and department of immigration have said they refuse to negotiate with the illegal aliens; and Freddy Roosemont of the government's immigration affairs office described the protests as "pointless." Groups supporting the illegal immigrants note that many speak French or Dutch and also hold jobs that would otherwise remain unfilled.

It is estimated that as many as 100,000 illegal aliens reside in Belgium, and the issue of how to deal with these immigrants has divided the government under Prime Minister Yves Laterme, with the split often going along linguistic lines. The Francophone Socialist and Christian Democratic parties have been supportive of creating amnesty programs for illegal aliens who are in employment, but Flemish parties in the Dutch-speaking north want to tighten the country's asylum and immigration policies. In 2000, Brussels offered an amnesty program and ultimately issued permanent residency permits to 40,000 illegal immigrants - many of whom had French or Dutch-speaking backgrounds. But the new government, currently on the verge of collapsing, has been unable to reach a consensus on the issue and has delayed any decision until autumn, according to French wire service AFP.

A recent European Union agreement on tough new immigration rules requires that its 27 member states issue residency permits or send asylum seekers and illegal immigrants back home, and many countries are currently cracking down. According to AFP, Belgium deported 9,000 illegal immigrants in 2007 and helped 2,500 to go home voluntarily.

[Al-khiyal]

Vers la régularisation des sans papiers en Belgique

Lundi 18 Août 2008 -- La ministre belge en charge de la Politique de migration et d'asile, Annemie Turtelboom, a affirmé samedi que la régularisation d'illégaux qui travaillent officiellement aurait un impact positif sur l'économie belge dans un contexte de baisse de la croissance économique. "Régulariser un millier d'illégaux qui travaillent officiellement rapporte environ 10 millions d'euros à la seule sécurité sociale, tandis que la régularisation d'un millier de personnes qui n'ont pas d'emploi crée des frais supplémentaires pour les CPAS (centres publics d'action sociale)", a indiqué Mme Turtelboom au journal néerlandophone De Standaard.

[Al-khiyal]

Hunger striking illegal immigrants in Belgium in critical condition

September 23, 2008 -- Groups of illegal immigrants in Brussels have been staging hunger strikes for months following the rejection of their applications for residency permits. A doctor warns that their condition is now critical.

Rajendra Debkota, 50, an agricultural engineer from Nepal, can barely walk after 78 days of fasting. He's clearly in pain. When asked if he will continue his hunger strike, he responds: "I'm alone with my body. I can't think about what I'll do today or tomorrow."

Debkota and seven other people on hunger strikes are being cared for at the Latin America House in Brussels. They come from Nepal, the Ivory Coast, Congo, Guinea, Brazil and Iran. The hunger strikes are being conducted by illegal immigrants or asylum seekers whose applications for residency permits to stay in Belgium are pending or have been rejected. In recent years, hunger strikes and other protests have become a common way for illegal immigrants to try to stay in the country.

Even as another group of hunger striking illegal immigrants ended their protest on Tuesday, those at the Latin America House continued their fasting.

Already, an Algerian man has been admitted to a hospital with kidney problems that developed after he stopped drinking fluids during the day because of Ramadan, the Muslim holiday.

And Moussa Diakite, a 33-year-old from the Ivory Coast, has been taken to the hospital twice but refuses further treatment. "Dying is no longer a problem for me," he says. "I'm tired."

On Tuesday, another 70 immigrants on hunger strikes agreed to abandon their protest and accept a deal from the Alien Registration Office for a 90-day visa to allow them to recuperate from the ordeal, according to the Web site of the Belgian daily De Standaard. Their protests had prompted churches, unions and refugee organizations to pressure the government to come up with clear guidelines for a general amnesty program for illegal aliens already living in the country. The government was supposed to publish the criteria in the spring, but it has since been postponed indefinitely.

The last time the Belgian government offered blanket amnesty was in 2000, when it issued residency permits to 40,000 immigrants living in the country illegally. But the new government - currently teetering on the verge of collapse - has been unable to reach a consensus on the issue. While Belgium's Francophone political parties support the idea of an amnesty program, Flemish parties in the Dutch-speaking north would like to make the country's asylum and immigration policies more restrictive.

Reprieve was a "tactical move"

At the beginning of July, the government granted some 100 people on hunger strike with three-month temporary residency permits, which they were told could be extended to up to nine. A spokesman for Belgian Immigration and Asylum Minister Annemie Turtelboom says this was really a "tactical move" intended to make the immigrants give up their hunger strike.

"We got the idea from France," the spokesperson said. "It gives people three months to recuperate. Besides, there is no airline which would have taken these people on board in that state. We said that if doctors felt it was necessary, we would extend the period."

Turtelboom's strategy attracted broad criticism. Right-wing parties such as the Flemish-separatist Vlaams Belang accused the minister, a member of the liberal, business-friendly Open VLD party, of dithering, while relief organizations branded her policy as "arbitrary." Meanwhile, the extension period for the reprieve has since been revoked. At most, those on a hunger strike can obtain a residency permit for three months -- after that they will be forced to leave.

"These people are in pain"

Doctor Julie Gosuin visits the hunger strikers every day to weigh them, take their blood pressure and dispense pain killers. "They are in a bad way," she says, "These people are in pain, they can't even tell if they're thirsty anymore. There may be heart problems. Something dangerous could happen at any moment."

Nicole Ngama, 29, of Congo is on her third hunger strike. She says her parents died when she was 12 and that she was forced to fight in the Congolese army. She fled to Zambia and came to Belgium in 2004. She was denied a residency permit but found a job in an old people's home in Brussels.

Does she understand Belgian politics? Ngama nods, but a Flemish former union official, Pol van Camp, who is sitting beside her and has been helping the campaigners, answers for her. Nicole is not stupid, he says, pointing to the books and magazines next to her mattress. And they talk politics a lot in the Latin America House. "These strikes are taking place because there is no political policy," he says.