The municipality of Amsterdam closes the registration and distribution center for Ukrainian refugees arriving in the capital. Alderman Rutger Groot Wassink announced this in a letter to the municipal council. The registration center closes on Friday evening (9 p.m.). Ukrainians who report after that time will be referred to the registration center in Utrecht, a spokesperson explains. In Utrecht, unlike Amsterdam, it is also possible to spend the night, but it is also very busy there.
Amsterdam is forced to close the registration and distribution center because the reception places in the capital itself are full and there is hardly any room for Ukrainian refugees elsewhere in the country. “Without expansion of the national reception capacity,” writes Groot Wassink, Amsterdam “faces an impossible task.” The registration center will only reopen when “a stable supply of reception places has been achieved”.
Ukrainians who cannot go to Amsterdam will have to go to Utrecht. The other registration center is located there, but it is also subject to large and persistent crowds. At the beginning of this month, Mayor Sharon Dijksma also threatened to close its doors there if other municipalities do not come forward with long-term shelters, but for the time being the Utrecht registration center will remain open.
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