The cruise ship docked in Velsen-Noord, which has received about a thousand people seeking asylum in recent months, will probably have to leave in mid-April. The mayor and aldermen of Velsen decided this on Friday. State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum Affairs, VVD) speaks on Twitter of a ‘blow to reception capacity’. “We need the places so badly and we now have to find another place for these thousand people.”
In Velsen-Noord, the choice about whether or not to receive shelter was left to the inhabitants. The consultation of local residents showed that 59 percent of those questioned are negative about the reception ship staying longer. The Board speaks of a “clear outcome”, and subsequently decided not to extend the stay of the reception ship after mid-April, as previously planned.
The municipality of Velsen does speak of the possibility that a small sea cruise ship can serve as a reception location for about four hundred refugees. From the consultation, locations such as the Loswal in IJmuiden and the 3rd Rijks Binnenhaven in Velsen-Noord turned out to be the most promising.
The city council decided last December that the sea cruise ship Silja Europa would provide shelter for a thousand people for six months. There is still an imminent shortage of places in asylum reception in the Netherlands. Last year, people regularly had to sleep outside at the application center in Ter Apel.
Read also: Velsen-Noord can vote on asylum seekers’ ship: ‘Should we send those poor wretches away now?’