Ter Apel reception center brought in groups of asylum seekers around midnight on Tuesday who would initially spend the night outside, spokesperson Jacqueline Engbers told NU.nl. Dozens of people would sleep in the open air due to lack of space and had already received a blanket.
RTV North reported shortly after midnight on Tuesday that dozens of people would spend the night in front of the gates of the shelter. Vulnerable persons had already been admitted at that time. Finally, the other applicants were also offered a chair where they could spend the night.
“We hope that tomorrow enough people will be able to move on to locations elsewhere in the country, so that places will become available in Ter Apel for the new arrivals. But it will remain difficult as long as we do not have more reception places on a structural basis,” spokesperson Engbers said to the newspaper. NU.nl
The asylum seekers will be taken to Budel and other locations on Wednesday, the mayor of Westerwolde, Jaap Velema, confirmed on Tuesday evening. RTV North† Late on Tuesday evening, space was found in Budel, but according to Velema, it was no longer possible to organize transport.
“The situation remains worrisome and calls for scaling up,” Velema emphasized. His municipality and the Groningen Security Region have repeatedly urged the national government to expand the capacity.
Chairman Koen Schuiling of the security region recently called the application center in Ter Apel ‘our own Lampedusa’, referring to the poor conditions under which people live there.