Marathon Church Session Concludes as Dutch Allow Armenian Family to Remain, Reports Reuters

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A continuous prayer service aimed at preventing the deportation of an Armenian family from the Netherlands concluded on Wednesday after 96 days, following the government’s decision to make an exception to existing immigration regulations.

Supporters of the Tamrazyan family had gathered at the Bethel church in The Hague since October 26, utilizing a law that prohibits police from entering places of worship during ongoing services to protect them from deportation.

On Tuesday evening, the Dutch cabinet decided to permit the Tamrazyans, along with other families who had been denied permanent residency despite years of residency in the Netherlands, to remain in the country.

These families, who together have approximately 700 children, were previously ineligible for an exemption that applies to minors residing in the Netherlands for over five years.

In an effort to prevent other families who lack pathways to permanent residency from settling in the Netherlands, the government plans to expedite asylum procedures.

"We are incredibly grateful that hundreds of refugee families will have a safe future in the Netherlands," said Theo Hettema, a spokesman for Bethel Church, on Wednesday. However, he expressed concerns about the potential implications for future immigration policies.

The debate surrounding the "children’s pardon" had intensified pressure on Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s centre-right government, which holds only a narrow majority in the Lower House of Parliament and is poised to lose its Senate majority in the upcoming March 20 elections.

Rutte’s Liberal party is striving to maintain a tough stance on immigration to avoid losing support to opposition parties, including the anti-Islam party led by Geert Wilders.

While Tuesday’s decision brought relief to the Tamrazyans, it arrived too late for another family, the Grigoryans, who were deported to Armenia last week. The family, which includes children aged three to eight, faced removal just as the cabinet began discussing the Tamrazyans’ situation.

"This is unfair and very painful," their lawyer stated to a Dutch news agency on Wednesday. "If their deportation had been delayed by just a few days, the family would have been permitted to stay."