Last night, the Red Cross set up tents at the overcrowded application center in Ter Apel to receive asylum seekers. The aid organization took into account that there would be no more room for about two hundred people on Wednesday evening, but in the end it seemed that no one would have to sleep in the tents.
Red Cross director Marieke van Schaik nevertheless spoke of “an absolute low point”.
Late last night it became clear that the Groningen Security Region has arranged emergency shelter for a hundred people in Heerenveen. The Red Cross brought those people there by bus. The organization expected that a hundred other people who are no longer available will spend the night in the lobby of the application center.
According to the Red Cross, the situation in the overcrowded application center is “below any humanitarian level and downright unacceptable”. In the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, people had to sleep outside because there was no room left. They ended up staying overnight in waiting rooms in the center.
Van der Burg said on Wednesday that he expected the serious shortage of places in Ter Apel to continue for almost a week. The COA expects that about two hundred asylum seekers a day will come to the application center in the coming period.
“It is distressing that there are many empty beds available for refugees,” said Red Cross director Van Schaik about the reception. “Municipalities that have not yet done so must now take their responsibility. It is time for municipalities to open available shelters for refugees, wherever they come from. Anyone who applies for asylum in the Netherlands must be treated with dignity.”