In Ter Apel, hundreds of people walk in protest from Molenplein to the application center for asylum seekers on Thursday evening. The walkers say they do so, according to the announcement of the demonstration, because of the nuisance caused by asylum seekers in the village.
Residents of the village are present, but also people from the rest of Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe and Overijssel.
The group wants to stop at the registration center and then walk back to Molenplein. At the kick-off of the walk around 7 p.m., the organization explicitly told participants that protesters who make racist statements will be expelled from the walk.
Banners can be seen at the front of the walking group that read ‘We are more than tired of the nuisance’ and ‘Real refugee okay. Rubbish trapper away with it!’. There are also several inverted Dutch flags in the procession.
The municipality has set conditions for the demonstration. For example, people are not allowed to speak in a discriminatory, insulting or inflammatory manner, wear face coverings or carry torches.
The group arrived at the registration center around 8 p.m. There the group was stopped by the police, they were not allowed to enter the site. “Shame on you,” some of the protesters then chanted. Then the group went home again.
Seven hundred people have been sleeping at the registration center for two nights in a row because there is no room. This will be the case again tonight, a spokeswoman for the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) said on Thursday evening. There is not enough space at the registration center, so people have to spend the night in the open air.