A few weeks ago, the Groningen village of Zoutkamp presented itself as ‘the waiting room’ for the overflowing application center Ter Apel. Measures must now be taken against ‘a small group of nuisance asylum seekers’.
After consultation with residents and entrepreneurs, the Groningen municipality of Het Hogeland, which includes Zoutkamp, is taking measures against the nuisance caused by a group of residents of the emergency shelter De Marnewaard. For example, after several incidents, enforcers will more often supervise the supermarket in Zoutkamp.
The reception center in De Marnewaard was put into use in September and is specially intended as a ‘waiting room’ for asylum seekers who have yet to be registered, but for whom there is no room in the application center in Ter Apel. There is room for about 600 asylum seekers. Those beds were filled within a few days. The shelter is located right next to another shelter, where several hundred Afghan evacuees have been staying since last year. Both shelters are located in the otherwise empty polder, five kilometers (an hour’s walk) outside Zoutkamp. 1200 inhabitants live in the village.
Language barrier
A municipal spokeswoman says that nuisance by residents of De Marnewaard has recently increased, including in the supermarket in Zoutkamp. “That is why boas will supervise the store during peak hours. We are also looking at whether we can deploy Arabic-speaking volunteers. After all, there is a language barrier between asylum seekers and shop staff.”
Daan Oostindiën of Dorpsbelangen Zoutkamp states that there is a small group that causes ‘substantial nuisance’ and ruins it for the rest. “This includes people who do their business in public and hang out outside at night. It also concerns domestic burglaries and vandalism on a boat.” They also board boats to take pictures.
According to him, the problem is partly caused by poor registration with the COA reception organisation. The gate to the shelter closes at ten o’clock in the evening. But they don’t keep track of who isn’t in by then. She misses that,” Oostindiën tells the Newspaper of the North. Asylum seekers are in principle also free to go wherever they want.
The municipal spokeswoman says that it is being examined whether dixis can be placed for asylum seekers who are on the road from the emergency reception location. “We are also investigating whether we can use visual material to inform how we interact with each other in the Netherlands. For example, you can make it clear that it is not the intention to throw empty cans on the roadside.” The emergency shelter is sober, which means that people are more likely to leave the site. The COA would now consider setting up a football field and some table tennis tables.
Oostindiën hopes that the nuisance will diminish soon. He is concerned that residents of Zoutkamp will take the law into their own hands. “That is bad for the village and bad for the people in De Marnewaard.”
In the meantime it is still busy and chaotic in Ter Apel. There are rarely more people sleeping outside in the forecourt, as has often been the case in recent months. But there remains a major shortage of reception places for asylum seekers in the Netherlands.
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