“Horrible.” That is what Minister Judith Uitermark of the Interior (NSC) says about the protest action in Uden that got out of hand on Wednesday evening. During an information meeting, campaigners protested against the arrival of reception locations for asylum seekers in the municipality. Six people were arrested, including for the lighting of illegal fireworks and the throwing of glass.
“It is impossible that things get out of hand,” says Uitermark News hour, After seeing the images from Uden. “It is bad that a mayor has to announce an emergency order, because a local administration can no longer do what it should do, namely making decisions in a good way.”
Mayor Hans van der Pas of the municipality of Maashorst said on Thursday that the entire cabinet should give a clear signal that the disruption of such meetings is not accepted.
Both Van der Pas and the Association of Dutch Municipalities indicate that they see a connection between the disturbances at meetings about asylum seekers’ centers and the tone of politicians in The Hague. “On the one hand, if you say that those people should be taken care of and on the other hand that the Spreading Act is being withdrawn, it will feed on people,” said Van der Pas.
Minister Uitermark says he understands Nieuwsuur that this connection is being made: “I speak to many councilors, mayors and aldermen. And I notice that the sometimes too hard tone from The Hague simply puts down in the council halls.”
Read also
Yet she is not going to talk to her fellow ministers about it. “It is not up to me to tell other ministers what to say.”
The minister does make a call to people who demonstrate against asylum seekers’ centers. According to her, it is fine if people want to make their voices heard, but it is not intended that meetings and council meetings become unsafe. “Imagine what it feels like for councilors or a mayor if they get such aggression and intimidation over them. That is horrible.”
The atmosphere was on Wednesday evening in Uden, eventually the ME had to be used:
