Village association Nieuw-Weerdinge sends urgent letter about nuisance: ‘This can no longer continue’

It is not the first time that this sound has been heard from Nieuw-Weerdinge and that this signal has been given to The Hague. The village has been suffering from nuisance for some time, mainly from safe landers. These are asylum seekers who have little or no chance of obtaining a residence permit. Residents and the village council have been fed up with nuisance in the form of burglaries, thefts and intimidation for a long time and have repeatedly called for additional measures.

For example, last April the village association, mayor Eric van Oosterhout of Emmen and his Groningen colleague Jaap Velema of the municipality of Westerwolde, asked for a meeting with State Secretary Eric van der Burg to introduce additional measures against the nuisance caused by asylum seekers from safe countries. When that conversation happened, Katoen was still relieved.

There is nothing left of that initial relief, the village association now says. Special shelter for nuisance asylum seekers was created in Ter Apel, but this is temporarily closed due to a court ruling. “We were quite confident in that, but then there is another court ruling that puts an end to that.”