Steenberg politics reacts with horror to the disruption of the council meeting on Monday evening. At the start of the meeting, a group of around twenty demonstrators threatened to penetrate the council chamber. The entrance door was damaged. A number of campaigners pounded hard on the windows and stabbed fireworks on the square in front of the town hall. After a short time, enforcement and police were able to restore the peace.
“A shameful display. We already had a special name around the asylum debate and then you get this. People from outside who come here to ruin the case. You don’t have to agree with each other, but give each other the space to make your position clear in a decent way. We really don’t let ourselves be intimidated,” says Neve De Neve of Volkspartij Steenbergen.
The discussion about the arrival of asylum seekers in Steenbergen also flared up high in 2015. An information meeting got completely out of hand. Protesters started ‘there must be a penis in’ when an in favor of an AZC took the floor. The ‘penis song’ became big news in the national media.
‘Strange that nobody was arrested’
“That was outrageous. At the time, the room was suddenly full of demonstrators of mostly outside Steenbergen,” said Fraction chairman Joop Stoeldraijer of Progressive together. He is angry about the incident of Monday evening. “This is the poison that seeps through society. They only come to kick junk and thus saw on the legs of the rule of law.”
All groups believe that Mayor Ruud van den Belt acted decisively on Monday evening. Nevertheless, party chairman Edwin Maas van Gewoon Lokaal Steenbergen finds it strange that no one has been arrested. “These people ruin it for our residents. It is not easy to talk. They knowingly destroyed things. Ultimately, the residents pay the bill for this.”
Demonstration
Joop Stoeldraijer agrees with him. “I hoped that the wheel turners had been picked up so that they can be punished. Now the whole mess has just driven away. These people have tried to disturb the democratic process and that is serious.”
The final debate about the arrival of 78 asylum seekers to Steenbergen is on the agenda of the city council in December. A demonstration against the arrival of an AZC was announced on 30 October. Mayor Van den Belt was unable to respond on Tuesday.