"This is a great source of concern"
About 50 people had to be sent back to the street without having the chance to file an official application. Some of them found no proper shelter and spent the night in a park. "Asylum seekers should be registered immediately, and their application has to be looked into without delay", says Charlotte Vandycke of Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen. "It's a basic right for them to have their application examined."
The Asylum Secretary Theo Francken seems to be taking the problem seriously, the organisation adds, "but we are still left with the question whether enough is being done to have every application treated immediately."
The government is creating extra places in the short run to accommodate more refugees, to deal with a rising number of applicants. Theo Francken says there is no "asylum crisis" as such. He called the image of refugees camping outside on the streets "a caricature" and says Belgium conducts a humane policy.