Community holds solidarity march for 11-year-old Mikael

Next Wednesday evening, there will be a solidarity march for the Amsterdam boy Mikael (11), who was born in the Netherlands but had to leave the country with his Armenian mother. The march starts at 7 p.m. at the elementary school that Mikael attended until the summer, Achtsprong in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. The route ends at the district office on Anton de Komplein.

The march is an initiative of neighbor Jenny van Dalen and other concerned neighbors around Mikael and the asylum seekers' home where he is staying. The school and the foundation behind it are also taking part, says director Dave Ensberg-Kleijkers of the school umbrella organization Zonova, to which the Achtsprong elementary school belongs. According to him, the Zuidoost district council is still discussing the matter.

According to initiator Van Dalen, there is already a lot of interest from people who want to participate. She could not say how many participants she expected on Saturday, only that she has organized something like this before and that it can be "very successful."

The petition to Asylum Minister Marjolein Faber calling for Mikael to be granted a Dutch residence permit had already been signed 65,000 times by noon on Saturday.

Earlier this week, the Council of State ruled that Mikael and his mother can't stay in the Netherlands. A spokesperson for Migration Minister Marjolein Faber said on Friday that she could do nothing for the 11-year-old boy and his mother and that the responsibility lies with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND). Both the children's rights organization Defence for Children and the Mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, spoke of a harsh sentence and pleaded for leniency.

The Amsterdam mayor is still waiting for the official response from the Minister and hope that it will show the humanity that is sorely lacking in the press response," Halsema said on Friday.