The 250 asylum seekers and status holders were welcomed on Wednesday in the former Mövenpick hotel in Den Bosch, not with protest signs, but with gifts, balloons and streamers. After more than two years in emergency units at the Autotron in Rosmalen, they will now find shelter in hotel rooms for the coming months. “They are doing a lot better here,” says location manager Jan Roelof Middeldorp.
The asylum seekers arrive spread over the day in five buses. While the suitcases and bags are brought in, a warm welcome awaits the new residents in the hall of the hotel. Employees of the companies opposite the asylum center have made surprise bags, which they hand out with a big smile. After all the negative noises from the neighborhood, they want to welcome the asylum seekers with open arms, they say.
“There is no noise pollution here and the asylum seekers have more privacy.”
In the meantime, some of the asylum seekers are already having lunch in the dining room. There is a running buffet, where they can get soup, hamburgers and vegetables. Others are exploring their rooms. The location manager shows how they are set up. The singles stay in a triple room. The families stay together and have a linked room. “There are about eight of them in this hotel,” says Middeldorp.
The triple rooms have a single bed, a bunk bed, a wardrobe and a TV. Each room has its own bathroom. That was not the case in Rosmalen,” says the location manager. Some sanitary facilities even have a bath. “Quite luxurious,” he agrees. “Yet the rooms remain small, there are three or four people there every day. But there is no noise pollution in the hotel and the rooms offer a little more privacy. So it is better here than they are used to.”
“Street coaches are deployed to prevent nuisance.”
But how do the residents enjoy themselves all day long? “That’s difficult,” says the location manager. “The status holders receive lessons. These take place in the containers next door,” as he points to a number of gray units in front of the hotel entrance. “We encourage them to go into the neighborhood, undertake activities themselves and do volunteer work.” Playground equipment will be set up for the children in the backyard of the hotel in the coming days.
Although there was a lot of resistance in the neighborhood to the arrival of the asylum seekers, it remained quiet at the hotel on Wednesday. The location manager hopes it stays that way. “I understand that people are concerned when an asylum center comes near. But in Rosmalen everything went without any problems,” he says.
Because the asylum center is now located in the middle of the city and there is more unrest in this neighborhood, street coaches are deployed. “They guide asylum seekers, answer questions from residents and are there to prevent inconvenience.”
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Local residents and companies filed a lawsuit against the arrival of the asylum seekers’ center, but on Monday the judge overruled their objections.
