Fifteen men who tried to storm a sports centre where nearly 150 asylum seekers were living temporarily have been given community service sentences of between 40 to 120 hours by judges in Utrecht.

Eight of the men were found guilty of launching the attack and given 120 hours community service. Seven others were found guilty of being part of the mob, which had led to a ‘threatening situation’.

Three of the gang who attacked the emergency refugee centre were found not guilty of all the charges.

Balaclavas

The 15 men, who range in age from 19 to 30, were accused of storming the sports centre in Woerden, near The Hague on October 9. Most of the 150 residents, whose number included 50 children, came from Syria.

Dressed in black and wearing balaclavas, they hurled eggs and fireworks at the building and tore down fences, chanting ‘go home’ and ‘not welcome’, news agency ANP reported during the trial. One guard said in a written statement he had ‘never felt so threatened’.

According to the public prosecution department, the men had planned the attack in advance and kept in touch using social media such as What’sapp.

‘We’re going to let those typhoid monkeys know we are going to ruin their lives,’ one message said. ‘Death to Muslims’ and ‘On our way soldiers, its war’ were among other messages exchanged by the gang.