The emergency ordinance surrounding the application center in Ter Apel that forbade people to stay outside the application center in shelters, among other things, will not be extended. This is reported by the Groningen Safety Region, which introduced the regulation at the end of August.
Because the crowds around the application center have decreased, there would no longer be an unacceptably unsafe and unhealthy situation.
The introduction was to “prevent people from staying in the forecourt for a long time, an inhumane situation. Something that happened before when people stayed on the grass for several nights without proper facilities”, the Security Region said.
Last summer, so many people stayed in front of the gates of the application center, which was spent the night outside. The maximum number of asylum seekers on the site was exceeded by hundreds a day and the shelters may have played a role in further escalation, according to the Security Region.
The forecourt of the application center is still a security risk area. This means that preventive searches can be carried out and camera surveillance has been set up. The Security Region also emphasizes that the asylum crisis is not over yet. “There is not yet a so-called “distribution law” that regulates the distribution of refugees among the Dutch municipalities. There is not yet an approved transition plan. There are also no other application centers yet. As a result, the pressure on the application center in Ter Apel remains high.”