Men, women, and children have resorted to sleeping on plastic chairs and the floor in Ter Apel due to a severe lack of beds in the refugee centre, the NOS reports.
Two emergency reception locations recently closed in Breda and Nijmegen, where some 200 refugees were seeking shelter.
Due to this, many refugees had to move back to the asylum seekers’ centre in Ter Apel, which is struggling to offer enough beds.
Plastic chairs or the floor
People in the waiting area of the Immigration and Naturalisation service have been forced to snooze on the plastic chairs glued to the ground, or worse, the cold floors on the site.
According to the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA), 120 people were left to sleep in these conditions on Sunday night.
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Some refugees were taken from Ter Apel to a different emergency shelter in Heerenveen, however, there was not enough room for everyone.
The result? People have fled their hometowns to seek protection and a better life in the Netherlands but are now faced with more worry — and no comfortable place to get some shut-eye.
More emergency shelters set to open
The application centre in Ter Apel has been overcrowded for quite some time. However, from June 1, four Dutch security regions will arrange for 150 extra emergency shelters.
READ MORE | Sleeping on chairs and stretchers — chaos hits Ter Apel’s asylum centre
With other regions following behind, the total additional capacity in the Netherlands will eventually reach 3,750, NOS claims.
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