2024-03-25 12:35:55
For several weeks, terror has reigned in the Brussels commune of Saint-Gilles, due to drug trafficking and the nightmare that the residents are experiencing. Among them, Anwar, one of the few to dare to speak publicly.
Anwar has lived for nine years in Saint-Gilles, a Brussels commune that he particularly likes. But over the past year, the friendliness of the neighborhood has given way to immense insecurity. “I’m showing my face today and I’m making a fight out of it because I don’t want my family and my children to grow up in a neighborhood like that. It’s revolting that people in the neighborhood live in the fear”confides the 42-year-old father.
A feeling of insecurity
“We find broken cars in the neighborhood every day, we find people wandering, drug addicts in the streets asking for money”explain Anwar. He also adds that some drug addicts harass passers-by, sometimes violently.
The father who used to bring his three-year-old son to play in the park located at Hal’s door, no longer goes near this place which has become a meeting place between drug dealers and drug addicts: “In this park, there are drug dealers. Every day we find people who have defecated in places where children play. You can find syringes in the sandboxes.”
An association involved?
According to him, the arrival of a center which helps drug addicts, located in his neighborhood next to the Porte de Hal, is partly responsible for the anxiety-provoking climate which reigns there: “This association brings people into the neighborhood and it is not capable of managing.”
This association, which has been in the territory of Saint-Gilles for 25 years, understands the concerns of local residents and explains that their social workers are also concerned by this insecurity. She is also thinking of a way to contact them directly to open a space for discussion and calm the situation. “To think that we are responsible or that we are increasing this precariousness is to misunderstand what is happening in Saint-Gilles or in other neighborhoods”explains the association.
A lack of action on the part of municipal authorities
The mayor of Saint-Gilles, Jean Spinette, says he is doing everything possible to put an end to insecurity: “I appeal to all the competent authorities to try to unite this action. There are many personalities who are involved, very active operators. But it’s clear that the number of people to be taken care of is enormous.” Indeed, the problem concerning the park, located at the Hal gate, involves 6 to 7 different levels of power.
An escalation of violence
For Anwar, the shootings taking place in the commune of Saint-Gilles are a logical continuation of the situation that has been happening for more than a year and a half. The father is aware that things will not change overnight, but he nevertheless continues the fight so that social and on-the-ground actions are taken: “There is politics, the police, but also citizens who must mobilize and who must talk about it.”
He adds : “No parent, no person would like to see their family and their children grow up in this area. We are citizens and we have the right to freedom, we have the right to security.” This inhabitant of Saint-Gilles, like its neighbors, remains hopeful that the situation can improve.
Watch the entire program “Images in Support” this Monday at 7:50 p.m. on RTL Tvi and RTL Play.
Images supporting Saint-Gilles shooting in Brussels
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