A group of asylum seekers took over a building in Amsterdam at the weekend which they want to turn into emergency accommodation.

According to the police, 30 people are squatting at the former art academy in the east of Amsterdam.

Asylum group We Are Here says 80 people from various countries are currently in the building.

We Are Here says the council’s policy of bed, bath and bread for failed asylum seekers is not working because people are sent off onto the streets each morning.

The organisation wants to turn the building, which has been empty since June, into accommodation where failed asylum seekers can also stay during the day.

Pressure

The Netherlands is coming under increasing pressure to give shelter to failed asylum seekers who are currently evicted from refugee centres if they refuse to cooperate and go home.

Refugee organisation Vluchtelingenwerk estimates some 5,000 would-be refugees are turned out onto the street every year. Many of them remain in the country and live illegally.

Last November, the Council of Europe said the Netherlands must ensure everyone living in the country has food, clothes and shelter, including failed asylum seekers who are not cooperating with efforts to deport them.