Refugees climb cranes in Brussels

Eight people climbed two cranes at a construction site near Brussels' Porte de Namur early Monday morning. According to supporters who gathered at the construction site in Boulevard du Régent, the people are refugees who have been trying for years to get residence permits in Belgium, writes Het Laatste Nieuws. A negotiator of the Federal Police made contact with the refugees but with no result, reports the Brussels local police.

"These are people who have been trying for so long to get papers, and are now taking more radical action," said a spokesperson from the refugee help organisation Coordination des Sans-Papiers. "All they want are residency papers."

The refugees chose the construction site to draw attention to the situation of refugees, who are often recruited to perform construction jobs and then exploited, according to the organisation.

At the time of writing, the refugees had threatened to spend the night in the cranes, despite safety warnings.