Dutch Town Blocks Migrant Buses
The residents of the North Holland village of Oranje, population 150, are angry because 1400 asylum seekers are being accommodated there. On the evening of October 6th, the residents blocked the entrance to the town so that two buses carrying migrants could not enter. That evening Klass Dijkhoff, the Secretary of Security and Justice in the Dutch Cabinet, was in Oranje for a private meeting with the local inhabitants who were worried about the arrival of 700 extra migrants. Tempers ran high because residents felt themselves cheated and blackmailed after having earlier being promised that a maximum of 700 would come. Emotions ran so high that Secretary Dijkhoff decided to leave as a precaution. When his car was stopped by the angry residents, the driver turned the car around and tried to get away through another route. A woman there blocked the road, but a policeman pulled her to the ground. She was later transported by ambulance to hospital. Apparantly residents decided that since they were expected to adjust to their new neighbours, who now outnumber them 10 to 1, then the Minister should also stay and experience the new conditions too.
Splendid Buildings House Migrants
According to the Dutch Minister for Housing, Minister Blok, Municipalities may decide whether they want to use State Properties for asylum reception. The buildings were on a list to be sold, but the shortage of housing for 'status-holders' is becoming more acute, and so he is willing to rent them out to municipalities instead. In Utrecht, for example, the Minister proposes to make available a villa in a leafy boulevard at number 10 Maliebaan (see video below). The street is also home to the Bishop of Utrecht. In the middle of the touristic Brink van Deventer, asylum seekers with a residence permit may be placed in the old county Courthouse. Also in Delft, Den Helder, Hoorn and Maastricht are beautiful old Courthouses thrown into the deal. In Leiden, there are three historic homes in the backyard of the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC), and in Utrecht there's an office villa on the Maliebaan. Besides the magnificent villas and courts are also less attractive buildings on the list of Minister Block. Former prisons and correctional facilities in Utrecht, Zutphen and Middelburg for example. Also office blocks in Deventer, Nieuwegein, Emmen and Terneuzen qualify . According to the plan, a total of over 76 thousand asylum seekers will be housed in 31 buildings.
Dutch expect 60,000 Asylum Seekers
The number of asylum applications in The Netherlands this year is expected to be between fifty and sixty thousand. That could mean a doubling compared to last year. The influx of asylum seekers was almost 40000 up to late September, State Secretary Klaas Dijkhoff has reported to the House.