“You are at the wrong entrance.” Ruud van den Heuvel, citizen committee member for Forum for Democracy, shakes hands with the security guard who shows him the door with this sentence. “Good evening,” says Van den Heuvel, laughing, “this is how we start, right?”
The security guard is relentless: politicians will not enter through the main entrance of Helmond town hall tonight. So Van den Heuvel turns the corner. He produces his card at the next entrance. In vain, the doors remain closed.
Patty Spoek-Van Dinther, his group leader, walks next to him. They make a third attempt, around a corner again. It works at the next entrance, next to the new police station. A security guard lets them in. Also NRC has to go in there for safety reasons. Ten minutes later a committee meeting starts there about the reception of asylum seekers.
The council members received a briefing before the meeting. It states that the municipality has taken precautions. For the meeting on asylum reception, also a sensitive topic in Helmond, staff must leave the building before 5 p.m. An hour later, fifteen minutes before the start, council members can enter via the side entrance.
Emergency exit council chamber
There is extra security this evening. When asked, the municipality did not say how many security guards. The municipality has also taken “invisible security measures to ensure that the democratic process can take its course unhindered”, although it does not say which ones. Since December, the council chamber in Helmond has had an emergency exit, in a niche behind a bust of Prince Willem-Alexander.
Spectators are not allowed to sit in the council chamber this time. They are allowed to watch the meeting in the hall on the ground floor of the town hall, provided they are registered. There are 52 white chairs set up in front of a large screen and four boxes. If the spectators look upwards, they see the back of the council chamber, on the first floor.
Since December, the council chamber in Helmond has had an emergency exit, in a niche behind a bust of Prince Willem-Alexander
In other places in the country, meetings about asylum reception got out of hand last year. Rioters threw fireworks and local politicians were intimidated and threatened, as in Best. Council members from that Brabant village told NRC that they opted out of meetings for safety reasons.
It raises the question of whether council members can still speak freely and vote on asylum reception. A councilor from Terneuzen abstained from voting due to pressure. If councilors from Helmond experience too much pressure or intimidation, they can report this to the clerk, they heard before the meeting.
The council members will discuss in the town hall about a possible location for the reception of fifty unaccompanied minor refugees (unaccompanied minors) in Helmond, which they will vote on in two weeks. The municipality is considering a piece of land on a green strip between the station and the Kasteel Traverse, a connecting road with Eindhoven that runs straight through the city.
Far-right groups
Before the council members start discussing with each other, they are addressed by Nikky Bach of Rechts Geluid Helmond. Last July, that group organized a demonstration in Helmond against the reception of unaccompanied minors. Hundreds of people attended the protest, including counter-demonstrators and PVV leader Geert Wilders, who kicked off his election campaign. “The municipal council of Helmond does not care about you,” Wilders shouted through a microphone, and: “You are the boss in this city.”
During the demonstration, the police made three arrests: two for prohibited possession of weapons, one for lack of identification. There were attendees with the controversial prince’s flag, used by far-right groups such as the National People’s Movement (NVB) and Voorpost.
Police outside the town hall in Helmond Tuesday evening.
Photo Merlin Daleman
Before the meeting, Bach, a young woman, stands in front of the main entrance with three like-minded people. They are greeted by Spoek-Van Dinther, the only councilor who comes for a chat, before she tries to enter the town hall through the main entrance.
The group has registered to watch on the screen in the hall. The municipality received sixteen registrations. Ultimately, eleven registered residents take a seat on the chairs in the hall, next to three speakers. After their contributions there is a break before the council members discuss each other. “I didn’t think it was necessary,” says Ron Peters, CDA faction leader, at the coffee machine about the precautions. “I know it only takes one crazy person, but still.”
Herbie Guldenaar, citizen committee member of local party Samen 0492, did not expect it would be so much hassle to get in. “Should this be the norm in local democracy?” he asks during the break. “Because then the standard is set by people who do evil.”
Council members who are not categorically against asylum reception, such as those from the FvD, also appear critical in the meeting. Peters (CDA) finds the location unsuitable, both for local residents and refugees. “We prefer to see it in a quiet place, not in the middle of the city.” A majority of council members do not agree with Peters and do not see better locations in Helmond. In any case, it is “pleasant”, says Peters in the meeting, that the council members “conduct a debate with each other in a decent and dignified manner”.
The journalistic principles of NRC