Afghans set up protest camp in Belgium

Some 200 Afghan asylum-seekers and their supporters have set up a camp in Belgium’s western town of Mons, demanding to see Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo to press for residence permits.

The group of protesters raised camp on the city’s main square late Sunday after marching 70 kilometers (40 miles) from the capital Brussels to see Di Rupo, who is also the mayor of Mons.

They have vowed to remain at the main square until they meet Di Rupo to press for residency and for a guarantee that none of them will be expelled.

“We want to show the government that it would not be easy for us to go back to Afghanistan. They are scared of returning there,” said the protesters’ spokesman Samir Hamrad to public radio, RTBF.

The asylum-seekers had previously been occupying a church in the capital for the past four months in a protest, demanding permission to legally stay in the country.

Di Rupo has expressed some sympathy for their troubles, while the country’s state secretary for asylum, Maggie De Block, has said the Afghans’ requests would be processed in the same manner as for any other asylum-seeker.

Many people from the war-stricken country consider Belgium as one of their secure destinations. However, not all have been successful to receive asylum. This has made Afghans stage a series of protests that once ended in a number of arrests.