Some 10,000 protesters attended the rally on Sunday at Brussels’ Maximilien Park in close proximity to Belgium’s immigration department, where those seeking refugee status have been sleeping in camps since 2015.
The demonstration was organized by the activist group, Citizen’s Platform for Refugee Support, and dubbed “Human Wave for Solidarity and Humanity.”
Some demonstrators beat on drums, chanting slogans in solidarity with refugees who have sought asylum in the European Union.
Other protesters were holding signs demanding the resignation of Belgium’s Asylum and Migration State Secretary Theo Francken, while some were holding placards that read, “Solidarity for everybody. Voice of those without papers.”
The Belgian government has been especially unsympathetic towards the asylum seekers and focused on a campaign of raids and arrest against the refugees stranded in Brussles’ Maximilien Park and Gard du Nord station.
Last month, the Citizen’s Platform for Refugee Support managed to draw nearly 3,000 people in less than 48 hours to create a human chain between the areas in protest at a planned police raid there.
