Netherlands: Non-stop church service to save refugees from deportation continues

A Dutch church has been holding a marathon service for more than six weeks to prevent an Armenian refugee family from being deported, as footage filmed in The Hague on Thursday shows.
Pastors from the Bethel Church started the ceremony in late October in order to support the five members of the Tamrazyan family.
In mid-September, the Tamrazyans, who fled Armenia in 2009 due to political reasons, received a final rejection of their asylum application.
Trying to escape expulsion, the refugees took shelter in the church, since under the Dutch law, police are barred from entering a place of worship and disrupting a church service to make an arrest.
"It's a difficult time for us, but we get so much support from all over the country and also from all over the world and that means a lot to our family," said 21-year old Hayarpi Tamrazyan, a member of the refugee family.
"We hope we can stay here because this is our home, this is where we belong. My brother, my sister and I grew up in the Netherlands and have been living here for almost nine years," she added.
Since the service has started, more than 550 pastors from about 20 denominations have participated in the non-stop ceremony in the Bethel Church.