Asylum reception plans abandoned after riot

Geldermalsen Mayor Miranda de Vries bowed to the will of the rioters who disrupted the council meeting on a possible asylum center in the Gelderland town last week. The municipality will no longer offer emergency shelter to 1,500 refugees, she announced on Tuesday.

"These types of files are extremely complicated, we try to find a solution for an immense problem. That's very difficult, especially with these tensions. Sometimes you wonder if this problem is a little too big and too complicated for us. We had a good looked at it and learned. The proposal no longer exists, we have withdrawn it." De Vries said, AD reports. "That the college decidd this week. We choose to celebrate a happy Christmas and New Year without fear and anxiety."

She added that they still feel a need to help find a solution for the refugees. "But how and when comes later." The town councilors will first discuss the matter with residents and other stakeholders.