Living in the Gare area is becoming 'unbearable'

The rally will mark the second such demonstration in six months. The issues facing the district have been heavily publicised with the government pledging to tackle the crime and anti-social behaviour plaguing the community.

Last month during a question-and-answer session Democratic Party (DP) MP Corinne Cahen summed up the sentiment of many living there.

"People in the Gare neighbourhood of Luxembourg City feel abandoned," she told the Chamber of Deputies.

While the Minister of Internal Security Léon Gloden of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV) has stated that he intends to increase police presence in the neighbourhood, residents feel that enough is not being done fast enough to improve the situation.

RTL Today spoke to one homeowner in the area who will be attending the march on Saturday next week about his issues and concerns.

We also convey the impression of a tourist who rented accommodation in the vicinity.

Located just 50 metres from the Gare, Hugo bought his apartment in 2021 after renting in the city for six years.

It was a financial commitment he was happy to make, having assessed the prospect careful and astutely.

"This was an investment for my future," he said of his one-bedroom unit, located in a building of six co-owners. "It was a sound and sensible purchase. I started my career in Luxembourg and developed it here and then had enough cash saved to get a mortgage," explained Hugo, who is in his 30s.

He pointed out that he was "more than happy" with the risk he took at the time in purchasing in that part of town. He chose it because it was "the only area that was affordable in the city" and met his desire to live somewhere central.

What he wasn't prepared for was the social degradation he has witnessed in the period since, watching with heartbreak as his beloved neighbourhood has descended into "another world."

"I understood that the Gare area was a hotbed for small time criminality with small time drug dealing as well as prostitution. I lived in France and it is the same situation around the gares of Paris. I knew the train station area was dodgy after a certain time."

In the intervening years things have escalated, in his experience, and it has become a situation where "things are happening, on an hourly basis."

When he first moved in Hugo described his street as being 200m from "the main area of dealing", so it was a case of "out of sight, out of mind."

Today, however, it is a different matter with "people shooting up, trashing the place" on his doorstep every day.

"Two years ago, the circumstances were already pretty bad but the sheer amount of people in a dire situation has skyrocketed. The biggest impact personally has been seeing this right in front of my door."

Unbearable

Hugo explained that things started to really "get nasty" around March and April 2023. A group of around five to 10 "drug dealers and users" would congregate at the small porch of his building.

"There would be urine, spit, vomit, faeces, cocaine, crack cocaine, crack pipes. Mentally that is tough as you don't really feel like you are at home."

The intimidation has become all the more heightened, Hugo revealed, as they persist in pushing drugs even though he is clearly not interested in buying their product.

"It has become unbearable. Nobody wants to not feel safe when they come home."

Hugo added that the distress is compounded by the visible hardship being experienced by those he passes on the street every single day.

"The people that I see at the moment are walking barefoot when it is freezing outside. They're not wearing warm clothes. People are hurt and bleeding. One guy I saw looked like he had just received medical attention. You could see staples in his head. They are angry and you are fearful of how they will react. It's creating a climate of fear for people living there."

From 8am until late at night Hugo would often witness one individual sitting outside a local supermarket near his building "shouting all day, picking fights, insulting people, smashing bottles."

"I love my building, my neighbours, my neighbourhood, the shops, the relationship I have built with the community, only for that I would be long gone."

Visitors, he said, also feel unsafe coming to his home and he bears a sense of shame that this is the scene that greets them.

“The straw that breaks the camel’s back is if either I or someone close to me is physically harassed. I would potentially leave Luxembourg City or even the country altogether if that happened.”

Perspective of a tourist

As problematic as this is for residents of the Gare, there is also the tourism aspect to consider.

One visitor to Luxembourg, who stayed in an Airbnb in the area last September with a group of friends for a fun holiday, described to RTL Today what she observed.

Elaine Mcloone, a government health service manager from Ireland, said she was "astonished" at what she witnessed just metres from their accommodation.

"Our apartment balcony faced onto a side street overlooking shops that had large, sheltered doorways. On each night of our stay, we would sit on the balcony after returning from dinner from 11pm onwards."

"The first night we witnessed a young woman and man lying in a doorway. As time went by a number of people, males mostly, came and went up to this couple for a few minutes at a time and there appeared to be an exchange of something. At some points also there would be loud arguments between the visitors to the doorway and the woman."

"On the second night the same woman and a number of men were in the same doorway, lots of talking, exchanges and one young man took off his t-shirt below our balcony and started to shoot up. He fell to his side and the people he was with didn’t seem to pay any attention to him."

From a tourist's point of view, Elaine said that her overwhelming feeling was one of "sadness" but was also rattled by these scenes, adding that it is something she would not have liked her children or elderly parents to see.

"One of the evenings we returned late there was a different young man and woman sitting in this doorway – while they weren't begging and seemed harmless, I was still a little bit unnerved and couldn’t get in the door fast enough."

"When coming home from being out late I certainly felt a bit unsafe passing groups of young people (who appeared homeless and on something). I would hold my bag tighter and walk faster past for example."

She admitted that she was "astonished at the amount of homeless people in groups at night" and would warn others off staying there.

"I would not be recommending this area to anyone else. During my stay where we witnessed the night scenes there was never a sign of police presence. I know it’s not a simple task but clearly the same people hang around the same areas, why aren’t the police scouting there nightly?" she added.