Dutch king visits refugee centre amid asylum crisis

Paris, Sep 1 Amid an ongoing crisis surrounding the treatment of asylum seekers, Dutch King Willem-Alexander has visited the national asylum centre which has made headlines.

The king spoke on Wednesday at the centre near the village of Ter Apel, not far from Groningen, the royal family said.

Willem-Alexander spoke both with refugees and with people employed at the centre, dpa news agency reported.

He also obtained information from volunteers from the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and refugee organisations that take care of people living in the overcrowded centre.

Willem-Alexander was accompanied by State Secretary for Asylum Issues, Eric van der Burg.

For weeks, refugees have been living in miserable circumstances outside of the completely overcrowded facility.

Hundreds of people slept rough outside the centre for several nights.

Aid organisations described the hygienic conditions as catastrophic.

Last Friday, the Dutch government announced additional spending worth millions and promised more flats for migrants.

Many cities set up emergency quarters for large numbers of refugees at short notice in order to relieve the Ter Apel centre. In the meantime the situation has improved considerably.

Until the emergency situation has been fundamentally resolved, the government wants to delay permission for refugees' relatives to join them in the Netherlands, a measure which some have criticised as inhumane.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor