Action Plan to Improve Security and Social Conditions at Gare du Midi: Concrete Measures and Long-Term Solutions

2023-09-07 11:50:55

At the end of a working meeting organized this Thursday morning under the leadership of the National Crisis Centre, Prime Minister Alexander de Croo (Open VLD), accompanied by the Minister for Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo), the Minister for the Interior Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) and the Brussels Minister-President Rudi Vervoort, unveiled the outlines of an action plan drawn up in response to the security problem affecting the Gare du Midi.

Welcoming a “very good collaboration” aimed at achieving improvements “in the short term but also in the medium and long term”, the Prime Minister began the presentation of a 22-point project managing, in theory at least, to propose a balance between a security approach on the one hand, a social aspect on the other hand, and an infrastructural aspect finally.

The return of a police station to the heart of the station is in this respect the first concrete measure on the police level. But the ministers present also announced the control of access to certain platforms, an extension of the network of video surveillance cameras within the station, and also promised a regular continuation of the “integrated actions” carried out on site and in the surrounding area, like the operation punch carried out on August 26th.

On the social aspect, the plan evokes the creation of “emergency” toilets for the homeless public, the installation of a social permanence in the station, as well as the creation of a reception center ” at low threshold” for UFMs and the creation of a day and night “reception center” for people who are “victims of addiction”. It is “important that there is a follow-up for those who are in a situation of dependence and wandering”, mentioned in commentary the Minister-President Rudi Vervoort, saying that he was concerned to offer more than a “security image that strikes the mind” – here referring to the creation of the police station. “If we succeed here, we will be able to reproduce a model, I am thinking in particular of the Gare du Nord and the metro stations. »

Finally, at the infrastructure level, improved lighting around the station, the creation of a “tourist route” within it and the continuation of urban renovation projects already planned in the surrounding area. In the long term, these measures should be cast in a protocol which will make it possible to ensure their sustainability, made a point of specifying the Minister of Mobility.

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