Sleeping bag protest for the Stopera for asylum reception
On Friday morning at a quarter past seven, Pippi van Ommen (26), her father Hans (58), Sofia Drost (25), Katia Verreault (48) and Mark Jordans (47) wake up in front of the city hall. Wrapped in sleeping bags they lie on a mat, two of them even lie directly on the stones. The nights outside are broken and there is hardly any sleep, the demonstrators say. But, that’s exactly what they do it for. Van Ommen: “We are awake in safety, many asylum seekers are in fear.” Sofia Drost has not been able to sleep for weeks because of the crisis situation and therefore joined the demonstrators on Thursday evening: “The broken night here shows me that I do have privileges, but the people in Ter Apel do not.”
The five experienced a lot in the night from Thursday to Friday, they say while yawning in the morning. From the drunken to the homeless, everyone is wondering what the sleeping protesters are doing there. Van Ommen, who is at Milieudefensie, laughs and says: “A drunk girl asked around 3:00 am what we were doing here for ‘Ter Appel’.”
Protest on the Dam
The situation in Ter Apel in Groningen has been dominating the news for weeks. Because there are too few reception places available at the asylum seekers’ centre, the flow of people stops. Hundreds of people sleep outside. Two weeks ago, the situation in Ter Apel hit rock bottom again when it became known that a three-month-old baby had died in a sports hall near the complex. A day later, MSF decided to deploy emergency aid at the reception location.
After the protest on Dam Square for asylum reception, Jasmijn Doorgeest (25) and Van Ommen decided to take action and devised the sleeping bag protest for the Stopera. Doorgeest: “No one should sleep on the street, everyone deserves a safe shelter. therefore it is right to do so.”
The fact that the protest is attracting a lot of attention is also noticeable early in the morning on Friday. Almost all passers-by stop for a moment and pay their respects to the activists sleeping outside. A city hall service employee says emotionally: “I think it’s brave that you have kept this up for so long.”
Overwhelmed by support
That is also the opinion of the Verreault (48), at War Child. “Our action may seem small, but it keeps the discussion going.” Van Ommen therefore agrees and adds: “We have heard that our sleeping bag protest has already led to a lot of discussion within the council chamber. That fact alone makes it a success.”
The activists insist on making a more active contribution to the current asylum crisis. It recently became known that the municipality will be housing 1000 asylum seekers on a sea cruise ship in the Westelijk Havengebied from October. According to Van Ommen, the temporary solution is not enough: “The entire asylum policy has to change. It is now far too long, too bureaucratic and above all not democratic.”
The initiators have been overwhelmed by the support from all over the country. Many people come to sleep with them on their own initiative and activists also sleep in front of the city hall every night in The Hague and Rotterdam. Van Ommen: 50 people are now involved in the protest in Amsterdam, which is great! The demonstrators are determined and will continue to roll out their sleeping bags in front of City Hall until September 13.
‘It’s up to the empire’
Alderman Rutger Groot Wassink (Social Affairs and Refugees) of the Municipality of Amsterdam says in a response that he agrees with the demonstrators and recorded the situation in Ter Apel heartbreakingly: “In Amsterdam we therefore take our responsibility in the short term with the cruise ship. make an extra contribution to reduce the shortage of reception places. But it is up to the government to reform the stalled asylum chain, together with municipalities. Only in this way will these kinds of emergency solutions no longer be necessary in the future.”