A group of demonstrators has been sleeping in front of the Amsterdam city hall de Stopera since last night. They want to let councilors know in this way that they think the municipality should receive more asylum seekers.
Yesterday there were three protesters. One of them was Pippi van Ommen. “I’ve never done it before, so I realized that’s my privilege,” she says. “And I was lying there with friends. Then when you realize that sleeping outside with strangers is bizarre and you know what a great opposite it is.”
Van Ommen hopes to meet councilors on Monday morning. “I am afraid that they will say, especially at GroenLinks, that they are completely on our side, but that the government determines it and that it is difficult. But I don’t feel like hearing that story at all. Let’s let that go. Because they are the political power and that’s not a good story.”
If it is up to her, there will be an application center in Amsterdam that is comparable to the application center in Ter Apel. “Why can’t a working group be formed today or tomorrow and that we open it next week? With the coronavirus and the Ukrainian refugees, we have seen that things can be arranged very quickly. Why not if refugees have a different skin color or hair color ?”
Slept for hours
Tonight another group of protesters is sleeping. Van Ommen is there in the evening to give them an explanation. Last night she only slept about an hour. “Because one of us was always awake. I mainly chatted a lot with people who saw us.”
The demonstrators hope to maintain the nightly protest until September 10, which is the day when, according to the asylum agreement, no more asylum seekers sleep outside.