Again too little space in Ter Apel, more than 120 asylum seekers have to sleep on a chair | NOW

There is no bed available for more than 120 asylum seekers in the reception center in Ter Apel on Monday evening. They have to spend the night in the waiting room of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, where they have to sleep on a chair. A spokesperson for the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) reported this on Monday evening.

In addition to the regular influx of asylum seekers, it is extra busy in Ter Apel on Monday because the emergency shelters in Breda and Nijmegen are closed. “This caused an extra influx of two hundred people,” the spokesperson said.

There is room for two thousand people in Ter Apel. The intention is that they will be quickly forwarded to other asylum seekers’ centres.

But because they are also full, there has been a lack of capacity more often lately. At the beginning of May, for example, there was even a threat of a situation in which people had to sleep outside. The COA is also struggling with a shortage of buses that can take asylum seekers to other locations.

To relieve Ter Apel, the 25 security regions in the Netherlands must receive 150 reception places per region from the middle of this week realize.

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