Norman from Iraq and Ali from Syria are hosts for asylum seekers at Emmen station. They pick out the ‘troublemakers’ in no time

Suddenly he falls over. The Moroccan man in a purple-pink tracksuit falls forward on the sidewalk in front of Emmen station. His body stiff, arms at his sides. He stays flat.

Enforcement officers in bright yellow immediately rush over, two young men wearing blue vests that say ‘host’ come to help. It’s just a matter of seconds before they arrive. Everyone is closely monitored at Emmen station.

“I told you so?” says a woman in a blue uniform with ‘supervision’ on the back. “I saw him turning his eyes and staggering when he had to buy a ticket.”

Increase in incidents due to extra checks or extra nuisance?

It is just a small train station, at the end of the Zwolle-Emmen railway line. Yet security and supervision are conspicuously present here. The reason: there is nuisance at the station and on public transport from some asylum seekers traveling to and from Ter Apel.

On Wednesday, the railway line to Zwolle, the ‘Vechtdal line’, was in the news again. The number of incidents on the line increased eightfold in the first quarter of this year. According to carrier Arriva, this is because checks are carried out more often, resulting in more fare dodgers being fined. There would be no more aggression.

Railway union VVMC states that these checks do lead to more unpleasant situations for train staff. According to the union, insecurity has increased.

Not only on the train itself, there are also regular incidents with asylum seekers at Emmen station. Often because they don’t have tickets for either the bus to Ter Apel or the train to Zwolle. When confronted, some respond in an intimidating or aggressive manner. This is the same group that causes problems in and around Ter Apel: mainly men from Morocco and Algeria, according to those involved.

‘Put him in a recovery position!’

The fallen man from Morocco was sitting on a bench with two Algerians ten minutes earlier. They said that they stayed in Ter Apel, but that they felt ‘trapped’ there. The Moroccan complained about the food, one of the Algerians said he was leaving for Germany.

The other Algerian talked about a hopeless situation in Algeria, where there would be no job or future for him, when suddenly the Moroccan man fell over and everyone rushed over.

After lying still for a moment on the stones, he begins to make spastic movements, as if in an epileptic fit. “Put him in a stable side position!” shouts one of the enforcers. A Qbuzz driver calls an ambulance. One of the hosts checks his breath – ‘no alcohol’ – and supports his head.

Hosts are themselves asylum seekers who combat nuisance

These hosts with their blue vests are asylum seekers themselves. Ali from Syria lives in the asylum center in Assen, Norman from Iraq in the asylum center in Zweeloo. They prefer not to give their real and full names, ‘for complicated reasons’.

“We are here to help,” they will say in fluent English after the incident with the Moroccan. Asylum seekers who have just arrived are shown to the bus to Ter Apel and they help with tickets. “If they have to ask a hasty Dutchman who has not yet had lunch, there is irritation,” says the jovial Norman with the Yankee drawl he adopted from American Marines in Iraq. “We speak the language.” It is volunteer work, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers gives them compensation of 14 euros per week for it.

Most asylum seekers simply seek help. But there is also a group that causes problems: ‘the troublemakers’, as Ali and Norman call them. “We recognize them immediately.” The hosts have no powers to act, yet they can intervene. “We have our techniques,” says Norman with a knowing smile.

The hosts are deployed at the stations in Emmen and Zwolle. “It would be good if we could also ride on the train,” says Ali. “Our presence helps, just ask enforcement here.”

Are you ill, have you used substances, are you taking medication?

The Moroccan suddenly sits up and looks around in a daze. He doesn’t seem to know where he is. Stay seated, the enforcers urge. The hosts translate instructions and questions. Are you ill, have you used substances, are you taking medication? When the ambulance arrives he says he has no feeling in his legs. he is loaded into the ambulance for examination and eventually taken away.

One Algerian has already disappeared, the other takes the shuttle bus back to Ter Apel – after the boas (special investigative officers, also known as ‘enforcement’) have ordered him to buy a ticket.

A boa at the bus confirms what Ali and Norman said: they are happy with the hosts who can translate and de-escalate. “Otherwise you have to do everything with gestures.” Laughing, he talks to the hosts about how they recently stopped an asylum seeker who could buy beer in the supermarket and yet kept claiming that he had no money for the bus.

No more access controls at stations

There are no hosts on the train between Emmen and Zwolle, but there are ‘service and safety’ employees who support the conductors in difficult situations. Since these ‘S&V-ers’ have been riding along, all passengers have been checked, resulting in more fare dodgers being caught.

Railway union VVMC regrets that since the deployment of these security personnel on the train, access controls at the stations have simultaneously been stopped. It is possible to do both, says the union. Then you prevent stewards from having to solve everything on the train.

At the station in Emmen, an Arriva ‘service and safety’ employee rushes to the train. For questions about his experiences on the route, he refers to the official Arriva spokesperson. The two conductors or ‘stewards’ also indicate that they are not allowed to say anything. “I would like it,” says one of them. “But I won’t do it.”

‘There’s always something happening. I love that’

The boa at the station explains how enforcement is sometimes called upon to provide support upon arrival at the station. “Happens regularly. Then we are ready to help. They sometimes have to be kept under control.”

There is a lot of action at Emmen station, which is why this boa likes to do the work. “There’s always something happening. I love that.” A selection of news items from Nieuwsdienst Noord-Nederland: man swears and throws things, two asylum seekers pay with stolen debit cards, man waves a knife in broad daylight, group of asylum seekers wants a free shuttle bus and attacks enforcement. Last Wednesday evening there was a fight between asylum seekers in which law enforcement officers had to intervene.

This boa has never experienced incidents such as just now, with an asylum seeker who suddenly collapses and suffers a kind of seizure. “But that seems to have been theater. They examined him in the ambulance and it wasn’t too bad. He was simply put on the bus to Ter Apel.”

‘You can check in here’

Whether aggression on the train has increased in recent months or not remains unclear. Arriva and the union have different opinions. Staff do not talk to the media. The police cannot provide specific figures about the route. The province of Drenthe says it ‘regrets’ the incidents, but also notes that the approach is effective. “Despite the incidents, the deployment of mobile safety teams shows that the stewards on the train feel safer than before,” a spokesperson said.

It is quiet on the train to Zwolle this afternoon. At Gramsbergen station, a conductor (two braids in her hair, snake tattooed on her arm) walks towards the exit, with a young asylum seeker in her wake with a chip card in his hand. “You can check-in here,” she tells him, pointing to the pole on the platform.

The boy does as she says and then almost wants to run away from the train. “No, no,” she shouts. “Come. Check-in is ok now.” The boy runs back and jumps back onto the train. On to Zwolle.