Thom, absolute station wagonLook, we can all complain about religion all we want, but the Protestant Church in the Netherlands in the city of Kampen who have been holding an uninterrupted mass for over a year to protect a family of two parents and five kids (21, 15, 11, and 4) from deportation are fucking heroes. This family has been in The Netherlands for 12 years, so these kids know nothing of the place they came from (hell, two of them were born here and have never seen their parents' home country), and deporting them would be insanely cruel.
Why the long mass, though? Well, according to Dutch law, law enforcement is not allowed to enter a church (or other house of worship) as long as a mass/service/etc. is underway. As such, members of this church take turns holding mass, and 2000 of them have been keeping this up for over a year. The family has its own little area in the church, but they can't leave the building. The kids are taught by local teachers inside the church, and the 21-year old does odd jobs in the building. So yeah, they've been inside for over a year.
Turns out this "church asylum" thing has actually been attempted over 50 times since 1978, and it's been successful at times.
I almost bought a house in Kampen a few years before meeting my now-wife and moving to Sweden. Had that not happened, and I managed to buy a house in Kampen, I would've joined this church in a heartbeat to help out.
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