Last year on the 26th of October a fire broke out in the detention center at Schiphol. Unfortunately 11 people died in that fire. An investigation was started and concluded that the fire had started in of the cells of a detainee. Due to misfortune and inadequate training of the staff present the fire was able to spread out and burn down one of the wing of the complex. Two of the responsible ministers in the Dutch government stepped down as a result of this.
The detention is being used mainly as the last stop over for people who are being send back ‘home’ because of crimes the committed or because their request for stay in the Netherlands has not been granted. The immigration and refugee policy of the Dutch government is an hot issue especially with the left wing of the political spectrum.
Last night the fire was remembered in an number of meetings throughout the country. Nothing wrong with that, I think we should pay respect to the victims of this tragedy. But what I find offensive is that some political figures (e.g van Thijn = PvdA) were using these meeting the put the blame of the tragedy at the immigration and refugee policy and especially the minister responsible for that policy. Offensive because it is clear that these statements are only made because of the elections are coming up on November the 22th.
Polical poster
People it is terrible what happened last year,
but it is the fault of my political colleague,
by the way I need to be reelected in November,
will you remember that I had nothing to do with it,