BRUSSELS (AP) – As a cold snap grips Europe, authorities in the Belgian capital Brussels have begun forcing homeless people off the streets and out of subzero temperatures.
A mayor in the Etterbeek neighborhood has ordered that people be obliged to take shelter at night between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. until March 7 unless the weather improves.
Brussels Mayor Philippe Close isn’t going quite that far but he told The Associated Press on Tuesday that social workers and police are being firm to stop people freezing to death.
A group of homeless people from Poland, who do not want to go to a shelter, camp under a building in the center of Brussels on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. As a cold snap grips Europe, authorities in Brussels have begun forcing homeless people off the streets and out of sub-zero temperatures. A mayor in the Etterbeek neighborhood has ordered that people be obliged to take shelter at night between 8:00 pm and 7:00 am until March 7 unless the weather improves. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
“We won’t put them in jail. They did not commit any crimes. But the idea is to protect people from themselves and to push them toward shelters,” Close said.
Brussels has four centers with around 1,000 places available for homeless people during the winter, compared to 300-400 the rest of the year.
But despite temperatures dropping to almost -10 C (14 F), some homeless people are tough to move and prefer to stay on the street.
Darius Bielski, 50, and three Polish friends sit in the sun during the day to stay warm and at night they use cardboard boxes, sleeping bags and layers of clothes to survive. He said that he’s happy living on the steps of an office building but the police often try to clean up their camp.
He said that whenever he or his friends contact social services “they keep saying ‘no availability, no availability.’ So I am staying to sleep here, and when I wake up around 7 a.m. they are here (to give food). So for me there is no problem here. It is quiet.”
It’s the kind of challenge that Close and the Brussels authorities are trying gently to deal with.
“We need to be moderate, and at the same time it is my responsibility as a mayor to assure the safety of these extremely precarious people,” he said.
A woman is wrapped in a blanket on the street outside of EU headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. A bitter cold snap in the region has forced many street people to get off the street and to find alternative shelter. The cold is expected to last through the end of the week. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
A group of homeless people from Poland, who do not want to go to a shelter, camp under a building in the center of Brussels on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. As a cold snap grips Europe, authorities in Brussels have begun forcing homeless people off the streets and out of sub-zero temperatures. A mayor in the Etterbeek neighborhood has ordered that people be obliged to take shelter at night between 8:00 pm and 7:00 am until March 7 unless the weather improves. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
A woman is wrapped in a blanket on the street outside of EU headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. A bitter cold snap in the region has forced many street people to get off the street and to find alternative shelter. The cold is expected to last through the end of the week. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Darius Bielski, a homeless man from Poland, poses for a photo in a homeless camp under a building in the center of Brussels on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. As a cold snap grips Europe, authorities in Brussels have begun forcing homeless people off the streets and out of sub-zero temperatures. A mayor in the Etterbeek neighborhood has ordered that people be obliged to take shelter at night between 8:00 pm and 7:00 am until March 7 unless the weather improves. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Eva Kumula, right, and Andrej Domachowski, two homeless people from Poland, pose for a photo in a homeless camp under a building in the center of Brussels on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. As a cold snap grips Europe, authorities in Brussels have begun forcing homeless people off the streets and out of sub-zero temperatures. A mayor in the Etterbeek neighborhood has ordered that people be obliged to take shelter at night between 8:00 pm and 7:00 am until March 7 unless the weather improves. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Slavovir Domachowski, a homeless man from Poland, poses for a photo in a homeless camp under a building in the center of Brussels on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. As a cold snap grips Europe, authorities in Brussels have begun forcing homeless people off the streets and out of sub-zero temperatures. A mayor in the Etterbeek neighborhood has ordered that people be obliged to take shelter at night between 8:00 pm and 7:00 am until March 7 unless the weather improves. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Eva Kumula, a homeless woman from Poland, poses for a photo in a homeless camp under a building in the center of Brussels on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. As a cold snap grips Europe, authorities in Brussels have begun forcing homeless people off the streets and out of sub-zero temperatures. A mayor in the Etterbeek neighborhood has ordered that people be obliged to take shelter at night between 8:00 pm and 7:00 am until March 7 unless the weather improves. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Andrej Dombrovski, a homeless man from Poland, poses for a photo in a homeless camp under a building in the center of Brussels on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. As a cold snap grips Europe, authorities in Brussels have begun forcing homeless people off the streets and out of sub-zero temperatures. A mayor in the Etterbeek neighborhood has ordered that people be obliged to take shelter at night between 8:00 pm and 7:00 am until March 7 unless the weather improves. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
A group of homeless people from Poland, who do not want to go to a shelter, camp under a building in the center of Brussels on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. As a cold snap grips Europe, authorities in Brussels have begun forcing homeless people off the streets and out of sub-zero temperatures. A mayor in the Etterbeek neighborhood has ordered that people be obliged to take shelter at night between 8:00 pm and 7:00 am until March 7 unless the weather improves. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
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