A 50-year-old man from the municipality of Emmen was arrested on Saturday for assaulting an asylum seeker who allegedly stole money from a van. That happened that afternoon at the Weerdingekanaal NZ in Nieuw-Weerdinge.
According to those involved, he is a resident of the village, but the police do not want to confirm his place of residence. The victim is a 22-year-old man of no fixed abode, the police wrote. The suspect allegedly chased him. The man then allegedly kicked him. “He is suspected of having used violence during a civilian arrest.”
It is not clear whether the man is also a member of a so-called vigilante group. Bystanders told the police that the asylum seeker had been ‘browsing’ on the Weerdinge Canal for a long time. Things went wrong around 3 p.m. “The group chose to chase the man and confront them with their suspicions. During this confrontation, the victim was allegedly kicked by the 50-year-old man.”
The victim remained on the ground and was treated by ambulance personnel, who later took him to hospital. The man from Nieuw-Weerdinge was subsequently arrested and interrogated. He is now free again, but remains a suspect.
Chairman of the Association for Local Interest Nieuw-Weerdinge, Wim Katoen, is done with it and is very concerned. According to him, we have to wait until things really escalate. “This time it’s a bang, but soon someone will no longer get up and then the wrong person will actually go with them in the police van.”
According to Katoen, a fellow villager saw the asylum seeker breaking into his car. “He then stopped him. The asylum seeker was said to have behaved quite aggressively and to have been under the influence.” It would have taken a long time for the police to arrive on the scene. “That’s a shame, because otherwise this wouldn’t have happened,” says Katoen. “I am not in favor of violence, let me say that. But if you have to wait an hour or two hours before the police have time to come… then you are forced to do it or you have to let things get stolen from you .”
That is also the source of the problem, says the chairman. “Reports are made to the police, but the police have to keep an eye on the whole of Drenthe with two cars in the evenings, so they prioritize. CPR takes precedence over nuisance.” Understandable, he thinks. But according to Katoen, it does lead to something worrying. “It ensures that reports are no longer made and that these types of incidents occur more and more often.”