Fifty Roma found living in Brussels slum

A Roma slum has emerged along the railway between the Brussels communes of Jette and Laeken. About 50 people have been living there for a few months in ramshackle houses, shacks pieced together with any materials they can find. Many of the residents are families with young children.

The ramshackle houses were discovered tucked away on a former demolition site in a trench of about three metres deep, so that only residents in the nearby apartment buildings have a view of the settlement.

The families were still living in the buildings of the former factory site until December, when the site owner, developer Solidum, cleared the lot to demolish the buildings. "So apparently they've returned in recent months, but we were not aware of their presence," Solidum's Greet Verbruggen told Het Laatste Nieuws.

The village was built using the remains of the materials found after the demolition, including makeshift stoves and generators for electricity.

The City of Brussels so far has no plans to evacuate the village. "Because it is on private property, we will not take the initiative," Fabrice Voogt, spokesperson for Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur, told the newspaper. "In the meantime, people from the homeless organisation Samusocial come over regularly to check how things are going with the kids. Only if the private owner were to obtain a court order to vacate the area would the city dispatch the police."

photo: tvbrussel