A group of asylum seekers protested today in the meadow in front of their emergency shelter in Avenhorn. Some have been waiting for more than a year for an interview with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND). These people are planning to go on a hunger strike, just as happened before in Purmerend. “It feels like everyone has forgotten about us.”
They are hopeless. And exhausted. Reem (33), Amany (42) and Housain (36) from Syria are three of the thirty refugees who protested today in their reception location on Juliana Street.
It is now the third emergency shelter they have been towed to. First in Bergen, then Enkhuizen and now here, in a meadow just outside the West Frisian Avenhorn.
The shelter was set up in no time at the beginning of this year, at the request of mayor Monique Bonsen. The white tent, which was built between the tulip farms, can accommodate about 200 people.
‘No one asks about him’
“The IND has forgotten us here,” Reem told NH today. The frustration is clearly visible. Everyone has their own story about the endless waiting, the lack of family and the lack of answers.
For example, a 14-year-old boy has been in the Netherlands for eight months, but ‘no one asks about him’, an older man heard yesterday that they had ‘forgotten’ him and now has to wait again for an appointment. And Amani says that she has now been in emergency shelter for sixteen months and is still waiting for clarity from the IND.
They hope someone hears them with this protest. But even with thirty people and children with signs along the road, life in Avenhorn seems to go on as usual. Older couples on electric bicycles look up for a moment, but then quickly continue cycling.
The group is having a hard time, especially mentally most of them are completely through it. “People get depressed and exhausted from waiting,” said Housain.
Their days consist of eating, talking and sleeping, there is nothing else to do. You cannot cook yourself, there is no kitchen. But that’s not the point, says Reem, “I don’t want a perfect life, I don’t want good food, I just want to hear something.”
This location will be closed again in November. Then the emergency shelter moves to Medemblik. It is not clear whether this group will still be in emergency shelter. But the frustration is now so great that they are considering a new step. “If we haven’t heard from the IND by next week, we’ll go on a hunger strike,” says a father of three.
A group of asylum seekers went to Purmerend even on hunger strike. The IND then came to the shelter several times, according to the demonstrators because of their action.
The spokesperson for the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers could not be reached for comment.