On Monday morning officers from the Brussels West police vacated a former retirement home that had been used as a squat by illegal immigrants for two years. 13 people were arrested. The others left the building as soon as the municipality of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek had announced the operation.

This was announced by the mayor of Molenbeek, Françoise Schepmans (MR). According to VRT, ten police vans and more than 100 officers were used in the operation.

"At first there were few problems", says mayor Schepmans. "The building was in good condition. But, in the end, there were up to 150, 200 squatters, which was too much for a building with 45 rooms. The building had become uninhabitable due to bad weather. The squatters had until 1 September to leave the building."

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Read more about: Sint-Jans-Molenbeek , Samenleving

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