The Last Resort
The longest running migrant occupation in the heart of Brussels
In the heart of Brussels, a mile away from the parliament and the royal palace, nearly 100 West African migrants inhabit a squat. For six years now, they have been sharing seven rooms.
'I was forced to leave my country. I didn't leave because I wanted to', explains Moussa Bah. Bah is one of many migrants occupying Brussels' longest-running squat. Like Bah, most residents have been ordered to leave the country after failed asylum applications. Unable to legally work in the country, and with little chance of second asylum applications being recognised, life in the squat is a state of limbo. Yet the residents live together in '100% harmony'. 'The government has kicked us out. They have cast us aside. If we also argue amongst ourselves, it's not going to work', says Bah, who also helps to coordinate the occupation. 'May God allow me to see my children again ... And may God give me papers too, so I too can live like others', says Mariame. Like others in the house, she holds out hope for a better future.
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