About four hundred people slept outside at the registration center in Ter Apel during the night from Sunday to Monday. This is reported by the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA). Never before have there been so many.
The people slept, among other things, under the canopies that have been placed for shelter. In the night from Friday to Saturday about 250 people had to sleep outside and in the night from Saturday to Sunday it was about three hundred people.
Recently, asylum seekers regularly slept outside. The Groningen application center has been busy for months, where people also spent the night on chairs in the waiting areas. Asylum seekers’ centers no longer have a place and status holders cannot move on to a home due to, among other things, the overheated housing market.
The crowds at the registration center previously led to unrest and fights. The municipality of Westerwolde, which includes Ter Apel, therefore designated the forecourt of the application center as a safety risk area on Friday. This means that, for example, preventive searches can be carried out.