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After The Hague and Amsterdam, among others, anti-immigration protests in Houten and Uithoorn also got out of hand on Tuesday evening. In both cases there were protests against asylum seeker centers and the Mobile Unit (ME) was deployed.
The police in Houten have so far arrested at least three people, a police spokesperson said NRC know, but that number could still increase. Activists pelted the police with fireworks. The mobile unit took action around 8:30 PM to disperse supporters and opponents of the asylum seekers’ center. The situation has now calmed down, but police and demonstrators are still present at 10:15 p.m. The municipality investigates currently whether 337 asylum seekers can be accommodated at an industrial estate in Houten along the A27.
In Uithoorn, officers were also pelted with eggs and fireworks during an asylum seekers’ center protest in front of the town hall. According to the ANP news agency, four people have so far been arrested there.
In the meantime, registered speakers entered into discussions with the municipal council about asylum reception. The press and public were not welcome at the committee meeting in the town hall, much to the dissatisfaction of the journalists’ union NVJ. Last September, the police also had to intervene at an asylum protest in the North Holland town.
The mobile unit carried out charges around the town hall and the demonstrators fled into the surrounding streets, a spokesperson for the Amsterdam police said on the telephone. Several demonstrators showed a Prince’s flag, which was also used by the NSB, with a VOC logo, according to an ANP reporter on site. The activists are protesting against one asylum shelter for up to 250 refugees and an asylum seeker center in Legmeer in the neighboring municipality of Amstelveen.
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