Pub boss Johan de Vos got a lot to choose in the last eight months. Since December, his café Boerke Verschuren in Breda was no less than four times target of attacks: from explosions to arson. That is why the municipality placed a mobile camera in front of his door on Monday. And he himself invested nearly 100,000 euros in safety measures. “The despondency strikes, but I remain militant.”
“When the Explosives Clearance Service turned the Hoek van de Ginnekenmarkt last week, that came in a bit,” says Johan de Vos. He makes a deep sigh. “I must honestly say that the despondency is striking and I could howl. But I don’t do that, because my militancy is still winning!”
Four attacks in just eight months, the café boss van Boerke Verschuren do not sit in the cold clothes. It is a frustrating fight against an unknown and invisible enemy. It is still not clear to the fox who is behind the attacks. The motive therefore remains completely unclear. And that leaves his spurs.
“If they blow out your facade at some point, it really has an impact.”
“I can live with it that they find me a jellyfish,” says Johan De Vos, watching how a huge mobile camera is placed in front of his pub. “But if they blow out your facade at some point, it really has an impact. I am not going to do it pathetic, but it doesn’t miss its effect.”
De Vos knows his problems supported by Mayor Paul Depla van Breda. It simply leaves the café open and gives help in the form of extra surveillance and camera surveillance. “There is no criminal activities there,” said the mayor.
De Vos is happy with all the help. “I am especially worried about my family, employees, friends and the neighborhood,” he continues excited. “People are sometimes quickly ignored by people. That constantly grinds through your head. I don’t like it, because luckily they have pills for that.”
Then the fox becomes militant again. “I am not saying that I do not know any fear myself, but at least it is not great,” he says with a powerful and convincing voice. “Certainly not for those who commit the attacks, because I don’t know for whom I should be afraid. After an attack, nothing is said or demanded. In addition, they all failed, so the perpetrator or perpetrators are not the sharpest knives in the drawer.”
In January, after the third attack, an 18-year-old Bredanaar, probably hired by a client, was arrested and fixed. He is also suspected of the second attack, but is now free in anticipation of his process. “Very special,” says the café owner. “And I have great difficulty with the signal that is issued with this. Incomprehensible that someone can blow things up undisturbed and then walk around freely again.”
View the images of previous attacks here:
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The municipality has extra surveillance at the cafe and the mobile camera is also there at the expense of the community. Johan De Vos himself has also taken many measures. “I think I have already spent almost a ton on measures to ensure that it stops,” he says. “I am not a bottomless pit, but I want everyone to be able to live, sleep and work safely here. That we are just a hospitable neighborhood café.”
“My advice is not to start an attack anymore. This café is now just like Fort Knox because of all the measures, which I can’t all tell all of them. Let me say it: if you are still starting an attack, I think you are really tired of life.”
Everyone in Breda now seems to have a theory about the attacks and he goes a lot over his tongue. But the fox notes a turning. “One Sherlock Holmes is of a better level than the other and that makes you tired of it. But I also notice that people now understand that I do not eat anything in my shield. That if I would not be pure on the bone, I would have been in the tank for a long time. I have nothing to hide.”
