Antwerp residents rally after city removes final 11 trees in Deurne-Zuid

The City of Antwerp

Organisation

City of Antwerp

Municipal authority responsible for the project and its stated pause on loop-exclusive construction.

Why it matters

Municipal authority responsible for the project and its stated pause on loop-exclusive construction.

About

Antwerp is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest municipality in Belgium by area at 208.22 km2 (80.39 sq mi). With a population of 565,039, it is the most populous municipality in Belgium, and with a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million people, the country's second-largest metropolitan area after Brussels.

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Place

Antwerp

City carrying out and overseeing the street, sewer, cycling and tram works.

Why it matters

City carrying out and overseeing the street, sewer, cycling and tram works.

About

Antwerp is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest municipality in Belgium by area at 208.22 km2 (80.39 sq mi). With a population of 565,039, it is the most populous municipality in Belgium, and with a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million people, the country's second-largest metropolitan area after Brussels.

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The immediate result is clear: the trees have gone and preparatory work on the renewal of the Gitschotellei, Drakenhoflaan and Boekenberglei can continue. What remains unresolved is whether the wider project — especially a proposed turning loop for De Lijn

Organisation

De Lijn

Flemish public-transport operator responsible for tram services on the corridor.

Why it matters

Flemish public-transport operator responsible for tram services on the corridor.

About

Vlaamse Vervoersmaatschappij De Lijn, more commonly known as De Lijn, is a state-owned enterprise run by the Flemish Government in Belgium to provide public transport with about 2240 buses and 399 trams. De Lijn was founded in 1991 after the public transport companies of Antwerp and Ghent merged with the Flemish part of the NMVB.

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For residents, this matters less as an abstract planning argument than as a change to the streets where they live, shop and seek shade. Monday’s police cordon also disrupted access: local laundrette operator Ann Rosiers told Het Nieuwsblad that customers could not reach her business while officers restricted entry. Frank Geudens of Vooruit, chair of the Deurne district council, said that the district had again not been informed of the precise cutting date, despite promises of better cooperation after the turmoil of 2025.

Antwerp mobility councillor Koen Kennis of N-VA presents a different case. He says the current work is required for street renewal, new sewers and the restoration of tram 9, rather than work that is exclusively necessary for the contested loop. Het Nieuwsblad quoted him as saying that the start had already been communicated when the contractor was appointed in March. The city also argues that beginning now allows replacement planting by next spring and helps preserve the timetable for moving 14 plane trees during the November-to-March planting season.

Het Juiste Spoor, the neighbourhood group challenging the permit, disputes that separation. Its members fear the city is creating irreversible facts on the ground before judges decide whether the overall permit is lawful. Organisers accused the administration of acting against the neighbourhood with a large police deployment and without awaiting the court. PVDA district leader Ianthe Ghaye similarly argued in July that the 11-tree operation amounted to an advance step towards the loop; her party wants tram 9 restored and extended towards Deurne-Noord instead.

The conflict began in earnest in August 2025, when the city started removing trees for the broader redesign. The permit describes a package of sewerage, paving, cycle-path and tram works involving 62 removals, 83 retained trees, 33 transplants and 148 new plantings, according to the Council for Permit Disputes. The court rejected an urgent attempt to suspend the permit at that stage, but the action on the substance continued. Protests included tree occupations, human chains and arrests.

The political fallout crossed party lines. In September 2025, the Deurne district council unanimously requested neighbourhood consultations, aftercare and clearer advance communication. Its adopted motion described deep damage to public confidence and criticised the police response. That institutional record makes Monday’s complaint about another information failure especially consequential: this is now as much a dispute over how Antwerp governs across district boundaries as it is over individual trees.

There is no meaningful EU-institutional dimension. The relevant authorities are municipal Antwerp, the Deurne and Borgerhout districts, Flemish public-transport operator De Lijn, water company Water-link and the Flemish administrative court. Belgium-based readers should therefore understand this as a local Flemish planning and democratic-accountability story, not an international one.

Attention now turns to the court’s final ruling, the conduct of Monday evening’s protest and the city’s detailed planting and construction timetable. A judgment against the permit could complicate later phases even though the 11 trees cannot be restored. A judgment upholding it would clear an important legal obstacle, but would not repair the loss of trust documented by Deurne’s own district council.