Several hundred asylum seekers slept outside last night at the overcrowded application center in Ter Apel. A spokesperson for the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) said that some of them slept outside because there was not enough transport to another reception location.
Some of the people slept outside of their own free will, because they wanted to stay close to the application center. They hope by continuing to turn early for identification and registration.
The application center has been overcrowded for a long time, partly because the flow of permit holders from reception centers to homes has stagnated. Asylum seekers also sometimes return to Ter Apel after a few weeks if the crisis emergency shelter where they were received closes.
It regularly happens that large groups have to sleep on chairs in Ter Apel or spend the night in the open air there. In the night from Saturday to Sunday, for example, between 250 and 300 asylum seekers slept outside the application center
Defense for Children strongly criticized the situation in the application center on Tuesday. “Children who sleep outside and now also have to spend a day outside in record heat. Unacceptable. When will this deadlock be broken?”, the children’s rights organization tweeted.