Councillors have been pelted with fireworks by protesters on their way in to a meeting to discuss the location of an asylum seekers’ centre.

Three members of Montferland council were targeted outside the meeting in ‘s-Heerenberg by a group of around 30 demonstrators objecting to plans to house 250 refugees in the small Gelderland town.

A police car and a vehicle belonging to local enforcement officers were also damaged.

Boris van Oosterom, one of two members of local party Lijst Groot Montferland who were attacked, said the explosions had temporarily damaged his hearing.

“I have a ringing in my ears, I feel dizzy and I don’t know if I should get my ears checked,” he told Omroep Gelderland.

Fellow councillor Jenneke Laurens-Weidema said she was directly hit by a firework. “It was such a loud bang that I didn’t hear anything for a moment. Thankfully they were quickly surrounded by six or seven officers.”

Mayor Harry de Vries said the attacks were “a form of terror”, adding that the council had had to draft in extra police because of the threat to public order.

“I never duck an issue and people can say everything to my face,” De Vries said. “They’re welcome in my office. But throwing fireworks at things, and especially at people, is appalling behaviour.”

De Vries reacted angrily during the meeting when one councillor suggested inviting the protesters into the room to have their say.

“The fire brigade advise us on how many people are allowed inside and we keep to that,” the mayor said. “We already have that number in here. Should I let those people who’ve been throwing fireworks at councillors in here as well?”

The council plans to house 250 asylum seekers in ‘s-Heerenberg, a small town of 9,000 people on the German border near Arnhem, under an agreement with eight municipalities in the Achterhoek region.

But some local residents argue that the location should be used to house a swimming pool that they say was promised by the council.