Asylum seekers evicted from refuge march on city hall

The asylum seekers that were evicted from the Vluchtgarage in Amsterdam Zuidoost this morning, marched towards the Stopera, chanting slogans like "We are not criminal" and "We are here", Het Parool reports. They are currently sitting on the ground on the Stopera. "We want to talk to the mayor", one asylums seeker told the newspaper. "If the mayor does not come, we can sleep fine here. We have nowhere else to go." Another asylum seeker agrees. "We have no problem with sitting here. We have nothing, everything has been taken away from us." The asylum seekers were evicted from the Vluchtgarage this morning. According to Mayor Eberhard van der Laan, they will be able to manage with the "bed, bath and bread" supplied by the municipality. The current shelter under the bead, bath and bread has 135 places, about 60 of which is already in use. There were about 120 people staying in the Vluchtgarage. The Court of Appeal in Amsterdam recently ruled that the garage must be vacated, going against the previous judgement of the court, who ruled that the occupants can't be removed from the building before May 1st. Amsterdam wants to demolish the garage as it is a major expense for the municipality.

Sit-in asielzoekers in Stopera. #Vluchtgarage pic.twitter.com/CNUKderShb

— Judith Katstra (@volgjudith) April 13, 2015

https://twitter.com/NUnlamsterdam/status/587580967361060864 https://twitter.com/carolienbertran/status/587579516199038977

De demonstranten eisen 24-uurs opvang en zeggen niet uit de Stopera te vertrekken tot er een oplossing is. #hvnl pic.twitter.com/ECsBRvPKEc

— Michael Monkau (@MichaelHVNL) April 13, 2015