Six arrested at Amersfoort asylum protest; Also unrest in Hoorn
The police arrested six people at a protest around the arrival of an asylum shelter in Amersfoort on Tuesday evening. They are suspected of throwing fireworks and insulting police officers. In Hoorn, people also protested outside a city council meeting on an asylum shelter, throwing eggs at the city hall.
A total of approximately 250 people protested on Stadhuisplein in Amersfoort, RTV Utrecht reported. Approximately 150 people were against the asylum shelter. The rest supported the arrival of the shelter and spoke out against fascism and right-wing extremism.
The atmosphere between the two groups was grim, and the police had to keep them separated from the start. Anti-asylum protesters threw smoke bombs and fireworks and tried to provoke the police by pushing riot cops against the city hall, according to NOS. When part of that group tried to follow the departing anti-fascism protesters, the riot police intervened to prevent escalation.
One police officer sustained minor injuries and had to go to the hospital for treatment, the police said.
The Amersfoort city council meeting was to discuss how to better inform locals about plans for asylum shelters. The mayor and aldermen paused their plans to house approximately 750 people in one or more asylum shelters last week due to protests from locals. The mayor also received threats, but said that this did not influence their decision to pause the plans.
In Hoorn, the city council gathered to discuss a potential asylum reception center in the municipality. Around 100 to 150 protesters stood in front of the city hall, lighting flares and chanting slogans against the shelter. They threw eggs at the windows of the city hall. The police monitored the situation, but didn’t arrest anyone, according to ANP.
Protests against asylum shelters have often escalated to violence in recent months. But since the right-wing extremist riots in The Hague on September 20, it's rare for a protest on this topic not to escalate. The counter-terrorism agency NCTV warned that the Hague riots were a sign that right-wing extremism was becoming normalized in the Netherlands and urged the government to speak out against it. Caretaker Justice Minister Foort van Oosten initially failed to do so, but later backtracked and called those involved far-right rioters.
