African university students protest discrimination in Belgium

By Selen Temizer

BRUSSELS (AA) - Students, mostly from African countries, on Thursday held a protest in Brussels as they could not continue their education due to the "discriminatory practices" of the state.

Hundreds of university students gathered at the Northern Train Station in Brussels.

Protesting students marched to the Federal Ministry of Education, carrying signs reading "Education is a right," "Let's go to study," "We don't have legal documents for months," and "We are students, not refugees."

The protest organizer, 24-year-old pharmacy student Claude Kengne from Cameroon, told Anadolu that students from countries such as Cameroon, Congo and Haiti preferred Belgium for university education because their mother tongue is French.

Kengne stated that students who were accepted by the universities that they applied from outside of Belgium have been asked to find sponsors.

He added that the minimum requirement for the salaries of their sponsors was increased from €1700 ($1855) to €2750, so they lost their scholarships and could not continue their education.