ANPEOne of the direct shuttle buses to the asylum center in Ter Apel
In association with
RTV Drenthe
NOS Nieuws•gisteren, 22:48
Bus drivers, the FNV trade union and the Ministry of Justice and Security are very satisfied with all the measures that have recently been taken against nuisance asylum seekers on buses to and from Ter Apel. This is evident from an agreement that was signed today in Emmen by the various parties.
“In the past, we went to work with a knot in our stomachs when we had to drive line 72 or 73 to Ter Apel,” says driver Dirk Visser of Qbuzz. “Things are going really well at the moment. This deserves an eight or a nine,” he says RTV Drenthe.
From 2018 onwards, bus drivers regularly had to deal with nuisance from residents of the asylum center in Ter Apel. Drivers felt unsafe and had to deal with travelers who refused to pay and sometimes became aggressive. This would mainly concern asylum seekers from safe countries, who have little chance of obtaining a residence permit in the Netherlands. The drivers stopped work twice because of the nuisance.
To combat the nuisance, for example, security guards were deployed in the evening on bus line 73 between Emmen and Ter Apel. Separate shuttle buses were also used between several major stations and the asylum seeker center. It was not possible to transfer to those lines.
Asylum seekers as hosts
Another successful measure is the use of asylum seekers who help others as hosts. “That hosts do an exceptionally good job,” says trade unionist Edwin Kuiper of FNV Streektransport. “It is not just addressing people in their own language, but asylum seekers themselves know best what it is like to arrive in a foreign country and have to leave search in public transport.”
The hosts work on a voluntary basis and come from the asylum centers of Assen and Zweeloo. “These are two asylum seekers’ centers where the influx of people who are still in the procedure is not decreasing any time soon. The hosts are good helpers, because they have experienced the same thing,” says ‘chain marine’ Henk Wolthof, who, on behalf of the Ministry of Justice and Security, is responsible for the is tasked with tackling the nuisance caused by asylum seekers in the Northern Netherlands.
The parties involved would like to see the measures taken become permanent. New safety measures have also been announced in the safety agreement. For example, there will be increased camera surveillance on the bus lines between Emmen and Ter Apel and more security guards will be deployed at the station in Emmen. It has also been agreed that so-called ‘safelanders’ who continue to cause nuisance will be transferred to the “stricter” asylum seekers’ centers in Hoogeveen and Budel.
2023-10-02 20:48:59
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