Protesting Somali asylum seekers are told to move their tents

A group of protesting Somali asylum seekers will not be forcibly removed from their impromptu camp in front of a refugee centre in Ter Appel, despite missing the deadline to move, local mayor Leontien Kompier said on Thursday afternoon.

The tents were put up outside the centre on December 26. The group of some 45 Somalis say they have been refused refugee status in the Netherlands but are unable to return to the African country because it is dangerous.

According to Trouw, Kompier says it is not ‘desirable’ that the Somalis remain in the tents in the current weather conditions. Nor can she guarantee their safety because fireworks are now on sale, the paper quoted Kompier as saying.

The immigration service has offered to look at their cases again, but the Somalis are campaigning for full residency rights. A spokesman for the group said the IND offer is ‘nothing new’ and only applies to the protestors rather than the 2,000 Somali nationals faced with deportation.

Kompier told Nos television she hopes the group will still accept the IND’s offer.

DutchNews.nl