Dutch PM promises "expert team" to help municipaities set up asylum shelters
The Dutch government is establishing a special organization to support municipalities in opening asylum shelters, Prime Minister Rob Jetten promised after an emergency meeting with municipalities following recent riots. This “flying team” will assist municipalities willing to take in asylum seekers with “more tailored solutions,” Jetten said after the meeting at the Catshuis, the Prime Minister’s residence in The Hague, NOS reports.
The association of Dutch municipalities, VNG, requested this meeting following recent riots in various municipalities around plans to open asylum shelters.
Sharon Dijksma, VNG chair and mayor of Utrecht, attended the meeting on behalf of the VNG. “Smaller municipalities, in particular, are facing the full brunt of the pressure,” she told NOS after the meeting. The VNG, therefore, agreed with the Cabinet that they would receive expert assistance and financial support to ensure that the opening of asylum shelters “lands smoothly,” Dijksma said.
She is satisfied with how the meeting went. “I said earlier that I wanted support from the Cabinet and that Ministers had to step forward. They did that tonight.”
“We must prevent mayors from saying: we are completely on our own,” Jetten said after the meeting with Dijksma. He condemned the recent violence, saying the go “beyond all bounds” and rioters will be dealt with.
There have been violent protests against asylum reception in the Netherlands for weeks. In Loosdrecht, for example, protesters have shown up at the Wijdemeren town hall every night for a month to demonstrate against the municipality’s decision to shelter asylum seekers in the partially vacant building. Protests escalated into riots multiple times, culminating in rioters trying to set fire to the building with asylum seekers inside last week.
Mayors harshly criticized the Cabinet, saying that municipalities are doing what the government asks of them by taking in asylum seekers. In return, they face “intimidation, threats, violence, and organized disruptions,” and silence from the Cabinet.
At the same time, the asylum reception center in Ter Apel has been overcrowded again for months, and people are again sleeping on chairs in waiting rooms and hallways. The COA said on Monday that it has not yet reached the point where people are sleeping outside. “But we have less choice regarding who you place where,” a COA spokesperson told ANP.
“We have to shift people around all the time. Suppose a family of six is in a room meant for eight people. Do you add two single men in there? If we are full, you reach the point where this is necessary. That comes at the expense of liveability and safety.” According to the COA, the existing asylum shelters in the Netherlands are “104 percent full.”
