Grongingen, Friesland, Zeeland and Amsterdam-Amstelland are the first four security regions to provide emergency shelter for six hundred asylum seekers, in order to relieve the burden on the application center in Ter Apel. This is reported by a spokesperson for the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA).
The asylum seekers will be received from tomorrow in the reception locations in these four regions. The stay will last two weeks, then it will be the turn of other security regions to temporarily house these people. State Secretary Eric van der Burg of Asiel wants to prevent the most serious problems in Ter Apel with this ‘rotation’ until August.
The security regions have agreed that four municipalities will arrange emergency shelter for 150 people for two weeks. In any case, this should provide sufficient reception capacity for the next twelve weeks to prevent people from having to sleep in chairs in the hallway of the application center in Ter Apel again, as has been the case several times in recent times.
For example, last night there were no more beds in the reception center for 120 people. A COA spokesperson could not say exactly how things are going tonight. According to him, it is still ‘very busy’ in Ter Apel. According to him, the six hundred beds that the security regions are now arranging ‘will provide relief’ and, as far as COA is concerned, are ‘a very welcome contribution to the number of available reception places’.
It is not yet clear where the asylum seekers will be received exactly. However, arrangements have been made about transport.