Last night, 43 asylum seekers were received in a sports hall in Zutphen for whom there was no longer room in Ter Apel. It was the first time that it had been used since the ‘overflow location’ in Gelderland opened last week.
The refugees, all men, were taken by bus from Ter Apel to Zutphen. They will sleep one night in the sports hall and return to the registration center in Groningen later today.
According to a spokesperson for the municipality, these are asylum seekers who have not yet completed the registration procedure.
One hundred beds
Last week, about a hundred beds were prepared in the Hanzehal in Zutphen for asylum seekers to sleep there. The sports hall will remain available for more than a week. “We see it as a joint responsibility and social obligation to ensure that no one has to sleep outside,” the municipality of Zutphen reported.
In addition to Zutphen, Stadskanaal and Borger-Odoorn have also previously made a sports hall available for asylum seekers for whom there was no place in Ter Apel. Other municipalities also came to the rescue earlier to relieve Ter Apel.
About two weeks ago it was also too busy in Ter Apel. Reporter Jildou van Opzeeland was then at the registration center and told what she saw:
