Military to help maintain order around asylum registration center in Ter Apel

The municipality of Westerwolde has asked the Ministry of Defense to deploy Koninklijke Marechaussee officers to help maintain order around the overcrowded asylum registration center in Ter Apel. The Groningen town has had many incidents of shoplifting, fights, and even stabbings, and needs help, RTV Noord reports.

“We are dealing with a very high number of shoplifting incidents,” Mayor Jaap Velema of Westerwolde, which covers Ter Apel, told the broadcaster. There are also regular incidents on the grounds of the registration center run by the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA), including stabbings.

The registration center has been overcrowded for months, structurally accommodating hundreds more than the 2,000 people it has room for. Some asylum seekers have to sleep outside, and the weather is turning colder.

Recently, several people forced their way into a residential care center, looking for a warm place to sleep. The care center has since hired more security, the Mayor said. “These are incidents we haven’t had before, which is why we are contacting the Minister,” Velema said.

The Koninklijke Marechaussee, a policing force that works as part of the Dutch military, will support the local police in the coming months. Marechaussee officers also stepped in to help in Ter Apel between 2022 and 2024.

A spokesperson for the COA confirmed the many incidents to RTV Noord and the fact that Marechaussee officers will be present in the village for the foreseeable future. “It is regrettable that this is necessary,” a spokesperson for the COA said.

The COA and mayor Velema will meet with Minister Bart van Brink of Asylum and Migration on Thursday evening. The mayor wants to make it clear that agreements to reduce problems around the registration center must be honored, he told the broadcaster. “I hope that results will be achieved in the coming weeks. Actually, these problems should not have arisen at all.”