Thread: Migrant crisis: Dutch town riots over asylum centre plan

A meeting in a Dutch town to discuss whether to build a new centre for migrants had to be abandoned when some opponents rioted.

Protesters in Geldermalsen tore down fences and threw fireworks at police who responded with warning shots.

European countries are facing record numbers of refugees and other migrants entering Greece illegally from Turkey.

Dutch State Secretary for Security and Justice Klaas Dijkhoff said the protesters had crossed a line.

"Finding shelter for asylum seekers poses difficult questions but there is a limit when it comes to expressing your opinion," he said on Dutch TV.

"The line is crossed when you barge in yelling and rioting. That's not appropriate in a discussion and, thankfully, we have seen that it went much quieter in other places and a solution was found.
This is not ok."

The migration crisis is expected to dominate a meeting of EU leaders on Thursday.

Sad 'through and through'

Local mayor Miranda de Vries said no-one in the meeting hall had been injured buttweeted she was sad "through and through".

The meeting in Geldermalsen was to discuss establishing a centre for 1,500 asylum seekers.

About 2,000 people joined the protests from the municipality of 27,000, 27 km (17 miles) from Utrecht, Dutch national broadcaster NOS reports.

Local police say they made several arrests.

Along with Germany and Sweden, the Netherlands is one of the most popular destinations for migrants in the wealthier north of the EU.

Including this year's arrivals, the government said last month it expected to receive 58,000 asylum seekers by the end of 2016.

Former prisons, empty government offices and sports halls are being hastily modified to accommodate the surge in numbers.

Migrant crisis: Dutch town riots over asylum centre plan - BBC News

Blowback in Geldermalsen

A very unusual event occurred tonight in the small Dutch town of Geldermalsen: there was a riot.

“But Baron,” you say. “That’s not at all unusual. Culture-enrichers riot almost every day in The Netherlands, and all over the rest of Western Europe.”

Yes indeed, they surely do. But this was a riot by the indigenous Dutch, who were protesting the establishment of an asylum center in their town, a deal arranged behind their backs. This is a man-bites-dog story.

In the videos below you’ll at first see the public meeting, which is taking place in a room with big plate glass windows. While public officials drone on, the riot is gathering in intensity just outside those windows.

A Muslima takes the microphone to give her testimony. As she speaks, the people around her grow visibly uneasy, directing more and more of their attention to the windows, outside of which the protesting

townsfolk are throwing fireworks and clashing with the police.

After another thirty seconds or so the call goes out to abort the meeting, and everyone hastily leaves the room. After that you can see some footage of what is transpiring outside the windows.

Our Dutch correspondent H. Numan sends this concise explanation of the background for tonight’s events:

Geldermalsen is a small town of 26,000 inhabitants, less than 10,000 in the main village itself.

The reason for the riots is very simple. Money. Lots of it.

The village is near bankruptcy due to silly investments. Before the real estate bubble burst, they bought agricultural land to change it into an industrial zone.

The village spent a lot of money on it (the land itself, infrastructure, etc.) but nobody was seriously interested in setting up their business there.

Something they could have foreseen with a bit of marketing research. They didn’t do that research, and Geldermalsen is now looking forward to a €12.5 million write-off. Bankruptcy, in other words.

The mayor found a perfect solution: she offered the industrial zone for conversion into an asylum center. COA (Centraal Orgaan opvang Asielzoekers, the authority responsible for asylum seekers) is

desperately looking for asylum locations, so this came as a gift from heaven for them. All Geldermalsen had to do was offer the entire plot for sale, which would have meant a very large asylum center.

COA is only looking for locations that can house more than 600 persons. By offering the plot to COA, they could ask the current market price for it. That meant the village would have been saved from bankruptcy.

The mayor is a proverbial progressive dumb [epithet], but not so stupid as to think the population would meekly accept the new arrangement. She understood very well that the population were not going

to like her idea. So she tried to do the usual backroom deals so familiar to us all. Arrange everything ‘amongst friends’. Pretend genuine interest in democracy by organizing one (1) public meeting where

the (selected) audience would automatically approve the deal. Then COA would buy that land for the market value. And house 1,500 refugees there.

This scheme has now backfired. Last week concerned citizens contacted GeenStijl [major Dutch website] for advice and support. They got that immediately. Good advice, such as ‘select a capable

spokesperson’, ‘make sure extreme left as well as right wing extremists from outside don’t interfere’ and how to behave with the media.

They discovered Geldermalsen has a white industrial elephant, and published it. The population was outraged.

Tonight that meeting was held, and got wildly out of control.

The riots are not, repeat, NOT nationwide, only in the municipality of Geldermalsen.

What is striking is the media’s response. They abhor this outburst of violence, and strongly condemn it.

Which is a first. Up until now, they have never ever condemned violence. When committed by left wing activists, that is.

Below are the videos. They’re in Dutch, but there’s really no need for subtitles. The events speak for themselves:

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