Police put end to anti-Afghan evacuees protest in Ede

The police intervened during a protest at the reception location for Afghan evacuees at the Harskamp army camp in Ede on Tuesday evening. Initially, about 250 people had come to the reception center. The protest was peaceful early in the evening, a police spokesman said. The police were at the scene all night. According to Omroep Gelderland, slogans were chanted like "own people first" and "Harskamp is ours". A police spokesperson could not comment on that.

Around 9:30 p.m. it became more restless and about 60 young people did not heed repeated calls to leave. A pile of car tires were set on fire and loud music was played, the spokesman said. The police then chased them out of the area and led them to the town. It was quiet in the area just after 11:00 p.m., but the police stayed.

The emergency shelter in Ede was put into use on Tuesday. There are 800 beds for people from Afghanistan, where the Taliban have been in power for more than a week.

The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) announced on Tuesday that it would open a fourth emergency shelter for evacuees from Afghanistan in Nijmegen, in Heumensoord. There will be 750 to 1,000 places until January 2022 at the latest. Earlier, three other emergency shelter locations of the Ministry of Defense were put into use, including the one in Ede. In total, about 1,100 Afghan evacuees were divided between the Willem Lodewijk van Nassau barracks in Zoutkamp, the Wallaardt Sacre Camp near Huis ter Heide, and also the Harskamp in Ede. 

The COA expects that even more emergency shelter locations will be needed, because 200 to 400 asylum seekers are expected to arrive per day.