In Amsterdam, protesters rally for asylum seekers; Separate demonstration opposes immigration

A demonstration to draw attention to the crisis at the Ter Apel application center for asylum seekers will take place on Sunday afternoon in Amsterdam's Museumplein. Participants will also call for a more humane asylum policy, according to Het Parool. Hundreds of people have also gathered on Dam Square in a separate protest to express their dissatisfaction about immigration, the nitrogen policy and other matters.

The Ter Apel crisis event, which will begin at 4 p.m. on Sunday, is part of a series of demonstrations across the Netherlands called "We Make Place." It will begin on the Museumplein and trace a route through the surrounding neighborhoods before ending again at the square. The demonstration is organized by the aid organization MiGreat.

"This is no longer possible," the organization wrote on its Facebook page of the reception crisis. "We call on the Cabinet, the Tweede Kamer, the COA, the IND and the municipalities to do everything they can to ensure good reception and rapid, generous asylum procedures. Today!"

MiGreat provides aid at Ter Apel "every day," its chair Roos Ykema told Het Parool. "It is scandalous how people are treated there."

At the application center in recent months, asylum seekers have had to sleep outside due to overcrowding. A Doctors Without Borders visit raised the alarm about hygiene issues and infections among the asylum seekers, after which many were evacuated to emergency reception locations.

MiGreat objects to how "the Cabinet is using this self-created misery to pursue an even tougher asylum policy," Ykema said. There are 23 other demonstrations registered in the Netherlands under the "We Make Place" campaign.

A separate event organized by Samen voor Nederland is already in full swing at Dam Square, where protesters are wearing farmer's handkerchiefs and carrying inverted flags. The organization states that the Netherlands is facing numerous problems, but that every motion of no confidence against the Cabinet is rejected. According to Samen voor Nederland, the immigrants are the "next problem" after, among other things, the allowance affair, the nitrogen policy and coronavirus measures.

Protesters shout the slogan "blue white red, the Netherlands in distress." On a stage hangs a sign that reads "it's not right." There are a few police vans at the demonstration, but the atmosphere is peaceful.