‘Everybody Has to Move, You Can’t Stand Still’: Policing of Vulnerable Urban Populations During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brussels

Abstract

It is clear that the pandemic has had much harsher effects on vulnerable urban groups such as migrant youth, refugees, asylum-seekers, undocumented migrants and the homeless. For many of these groups public space is a quintessential realm, not only for leisure and social contact but also for shelter and income. This chapter presents early findings from ongoing research on the fate of these groups based on 30 interviews with frontline practitioners such as social assistants, social workers, language course teachers, outreach workers and youth workers. The interviews reveal how increased policing to enforce COVID-19 measures has perhaps made public spaces safer in terms of health regulation, but has simultaneously made them more desolate, dangerous places for these vulnerable populations.