In a period of five days, someone was injured three times at the asylum seeker center at Schepersmaat in Assen. For the time being, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) sees no reason to take additional security measures.
Things got out of hand for the first time last Wednesday, when a resident of the asylum center was injured in a stabbing. There was a second incident early on Sunday morning, with another person injured. And more than 24 hours later, a 19-year-old asylum seeker’s center resident was taken to the hospital.
“It’s all very annoying, and that’s putting it mildly,” a COA spokesperson responds. “We are on top of it and have a lot of contact with the police, the municipality and the location manager. Because these incidents have a lot of impact. Of course on the residents, but also on the staff.”
Yet the COA sees no reason to tighten the policy in the Asser asylum seeker center. “There is no question of gang formation,” the spokesperson said. “It is pure bad luck that these incidents took place at Schepersmaat in a short time.”
In other words: the motives were different each time. One incident is therefore not retaliation for another incident. For example, the victim of the second incident, on Sunday morning, appears to have injured himself.
The COA spokesperson hopes that no new series of incidents will occur at Schepersmaat this week. “We hope that we can now keep the peace.”