Loosdrecht reduces capacity of refugee shelter after riots

Council officials in Loosdrecht have cut the capacity of an asylum seekers’ shelter from 110 beds to 70 following several nights of violent protests outside the building.

The municipality in Wijdemeren, near Hilversum, said the new number was “more appropriate to the local situation”. The date when the first refugees will move into the former council headquarters has been postponed by two weeks, to May 6.

Riot police clashed with protesters on four separate nights in the village in Noord-Holland province, but local mayor Mark Verheijen insisted the council had not caved in to violence.

One police officer was wounded as stones and fireworks were thrown from the crowd. A 30-year-old man was given a suspended jail sentence and a community service order for throwing a blazing torch at police last Tuesday.

Verheijen said: “We did not consider abandoning the accommodation and bowing to violence. But we have listened to the genuine concerns of our residents.”

The council wants to house 70 unaccompanied male asylum seekers for six months in the council building, which is no longer used because the municipality is merging with neighbouring Hilversum later this year.

Organised groups

Some residents said that the demonstrations in Loosdrecht and IJsselstein, near Utrecht, where a similar protest turned violent last Friday, had been fuelled by extreme far-right groups operating under the Defend Netherlands banner.

One witness told De Telegraaf: “I live here and everyone knows each other, more or less. But I saw people here I’ve never seen before. They’re not from IJsselstein, no way.”

Justice minister David van Weel said he did not rule out the possibility that organised groups were “misusing” the protests to cause violence.

“There comes a point where these demonstrations become a magnet for groups with bad intentions or who set out to riot, or have ideological convictions. I don’t rule out them having a role in the escalation.”

But Van Weel said he “understood that citizens are concerned” about decisions taken by local councils to house asylum seekers.

“As the government we respect mayors for stepping up and doing this, but we also have respect for concerned citizens who are asking, ‘what does this mean for us and why weren’t we told earlier?’”