Mayor of Ter Apel: 'It has been getting grimmer for weeks'

The situation at the Ter Apel asylum center has become increasingly volatile, according to Westerwolde Mayor Jaap Velema. He recently hosted the Minister of Asylum and Migration, who witnessed firsthand the escalating unrest. The minister's visit coincided with a police intervention to clear a waiting area outside the facility, highlighting the immediate pressures.

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We see a draw effect. Boys from other reception locations come to do a weekend in Ter Apel.

For weeks, the asylum center has been operating beyond its capacity of 2,100 beds. Since May 20, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) has implemented controlled access. New arrivals must wait outside if all beds are occupied, with priority given to women, families, and children when a spot becomes available. Volunteers from the Red Cross and Vluchtelingenwerk Nederland (VWN) had been providing essential supplies like water, food, and charging facilities from a tent on-site for six weeks. They also arranged nightly bus transport to emergency shelters in nearby communities.

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The boys who are messing things up now, that is a 'self-created problem'.

However, the volunteers have now suspended their services, citing safety concerns. They report that a group of dozens of asylum seekers, predominantly young men from within the asylum center itself, are mingling with those waiting and instigating conflicts, leading to fights, theft, and even stabbings. Mayor Velema described this as a "self-created problem" and a "draw effect," suggesting that individuals from other reception locations are coming to Ter Apel for disruptive purposes.

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In the eight years that I have been mayor, I have had all eight successive ministers visit, and I have told them all that there is a hard core in Ter Apel of about two hundred boys who steal, intimidate, and hustle, who use the Dutch asylum system for residence.

Velema stated that he has informed eight consecutive ministers about a persistent core group of about 200 individuals who engage in theft, intimidation, and petty trade. These individuals, many of whom arrived during the 2015-2016 Syrian refugee influx, originate from countries like Morocco and Tunisia. They are involved in what Velema terms "ambulatory trade," stealing items like soft drinks, AirPods, and toiletries to sell to other asylum seekers. The mayor noted that these individuals often frequent the local coffeeshop, sometimes traveling on foot to Emmen, contributing to petty crime in villages along the way.

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The first came in the slipstream of the big wave of Syrian asylum seekers in 2015 and 2016. Boys from Morocco and Tunisia who speak good French and also German by now.