Seven arrests at protest against refugee facility in Gelderland

Police have broken up a protest in Gelderland against a planned asylum seekers’ centre after fireworks were thrown from the crowd.

Seven people were arrested as the demonstration outside the village hall in Kesteren threatened to turn violent at around 9pm. Police cleared the area by 11pm, taking some demonstrators away in vans.

Some 300 people responded to a call on social media to gather outside the building on Thursday after the local council banned demonstrations in the neighbouring village of Opleusden, where riots broke out a week ago.

Neder-Betuwe councillors were meeting in Opleusden to discuss plans to accommodate 132 refugees, including eight unaccompanied minors, in a former transformer station.

The meeting was moved forward from 8pm to 6pm and lasted just 17 minutes after all political parties agreed in advance to approve the plan, mayor Jan Kottelenberg said.

The area outside the town hall was subjected to an emergency order banning public gatherings after last week’s riots outside the previous council meeting, which led to 14 arrests.

Towns and villages across the Netherlands have been the scene of violent protests against asylum seekers’ centres across the Netherlands, often organised by far-right “Defend” groups.

A group calling itself We Are The People called an anti-asylum march in The Hague at the weekend that was cancelled by the mayor when participants chanted racist slogans, threw fireworks and traffic poles at police and refused to remove face masks.