On Thursday 28th April around 20 activists blocked the entrance to the 127 bis detention centre in Steenokkerzeel, near the main airport of Brussels. They were attempting to stop the deportation of 60 Congolese refugees on a charter flight to Kinshasa organised by the joint European border agency Frontex and “secured” by Belgian federal police.

The action began at 4.30 am when activists blocked the gates using lock-ons. The Congolese prisoners were due to be taken from the detention centre to a plane waiting at the Melsbroek military airport. More prisoners were being brought from four other countries, including the UK as well as Ireland, Holland and Sweden, to join the flight.

At around 9am the Belgian police cutting team managed to clear the blockade and the activists were arrested. Police closed off the area around the detention centre to prevent access to journalists who had arrived to cover the action. By midday the Congolese prisoners had been taken out of the detention centre by bus under a heavy police escort.

See videos of the protest (in French) here and here.

Around 9pm on Monday 11th April police tried to arrest two passengers who had arrived on a flight from Algeria to Zaventum airport, Brussels. According to the “Het Nieuwsblad” and “De Standaard” newspapers, the two ran from the police, stole a vehicle parked in a hanger, drove across part of the runway and through a fence and two gates onto the E19 motorway. The two have not been apprehended at the time of writing.

Saturday 7th May sees the second SteenRock music festival calling for an end to detention in front of the closed detention centre 127 bis of Steenokkerzeel, near Brussels. The inaugural “SteenRock” in April 2010 attracted more than 300 people.

Today Monday 11th April at a meeting of EU immigration ministers in Luxembourg Melchior Wathelet, the Belgium Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, threatened that his country would reintroduce border controls in protest at Italy’s decision to grant temporary Schengen visas to 22,000 Tunisians last week.

Earlier today Sunday 3rd April several hundred people marched from central Liege to Vottem detention centre demanding the closure of all centres. When they arrived at the centre, 49 demonstators climbed over the fences and broke into the courtyard. A helicopter came and hovered 15m  over them whilst a planned concert continued outside. After an hour, police came and arrested the 49, whilst being subjected to a shower of projectiles thrown by the detainees.