Dozens of people sleep in the night from Wednesday to Thursday in tents in front of the asylum center in Ter Apel. As a plea for a humane reception policy.
The ‘tent protest’ was organized by Perspectief, the national youth organization of the ChristenUnie.
‘Everyone has a roof over their heads’
“We believe that every refugee should have a roof over his head at night, that he does not have to sleep outside,” says chairman Jens Mostert of Perspective. “We want to advocate for that with this demonstration. An important reason for organizing it was the fact that our Prime Minister said some time ago that people might sleep outside. We believe this should not be the case.”
Other organizations also took part in the demonstration, which also consisted of several speeches. Mostert and his fellow directors received a permit from the municipality of Westerwolde. However, some tents had to be moved by order of the police. The tents were not in the right place.
High inflow
In the past two summers, refugees regularly slept outside on the lawn in front of the asylum center. Partly because there was no room left in the reception center itself. This was due to the high influx of refugees and the fact that other azc’s were also full. Because of that situation, emergency shelters were opened elsewhere in the country.