The 450 unemployed in Brussels abandon hunger strike in 60 days
- On May 23, 456 immigrants began a hunger strike to obtain a residence permit in the Basque Country. In feeling the position of the Belgian Government to respond to the request, the undocumented have decided to leave the hunger strike. They have described the achievement as "small victory", although they have made it clear that they will have to "monitor" until the administrative procedure that has led them to Catalonia is completed.
The hunger strike launched 60 days ago in Brussels by 456 people on hunger strike has been definitively broken. The Belgian Government is expected to respond positively to its request, taking into account the Executive's "hand stretched". In particular, the Belgian Government has warned them that they will be proposed "long-term consolidation" or "international support" for the few. On July 16, they also began a thirst strike, some without papers, with the aim of increasing pressure. The collective USPR, called the Union for the Regularization of Non-Papers, has valued the achievement as "a small victory", making it clear that they will have to follow "watch out" because "the struggle is not yet won".
La grève de la faim des 470 un-papiers depuis presque deux mois à Bruxelles est suspendue!
An accord pour une régularisation des grévistes est sur la table.
J’étais sur place hier et la situation de certains étaient extrêmement préoccupants, nombreuses hospitalisations. pic.twitter.com/QwbzcuUrWQ
— Remy Buisine (@RemyBuisine) July 21, 2021
They were concentrated in the church of St. John the Baptist in Brussels and on the two campuses of the Free University (ULB) and the University of Vrije (VUB).
Blackmail, according to the British Prime Minister
The Dutch Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, has welcomed the decision, and stressed that a government "never" can accept blackmail. Until this hopeful response from the Government comes, two months have passed, and as far as the health of people without papers is concerned, many are in an extremely serious situation.
Earlier this month, the UN Human Rights and Extreme Poverty Officer, Olivier De Schutter, met with the strikers and the Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Sammy Mahdi, received a letter from Felipe González, responsible for the human rights of migrants.
It cannot be otherwise, they are in a very serious situation: they are devoid of paper, unsafe and in very precarious living conditions. The Infomigrants group has warned that we already have evidence of this before the hunger strike that some of them have made suicide attempts or have stitched their lips as a protest. Many have been in Belgium for a long time – some at the age of 20 – and yet they still have no papers, almost no rights.
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