The local branches of PvdA, CDA, GroenLinks and D66 announced in a motion that enough was enough after 75 years. Nine council members voted in favor of the plan, and six against. The parties felt it was unacceptable that so many additional measures were needed to keep control of the students and their behavior.
The corps hit rather discredited due to excessive drinking and negligent work on the beach. There are also signs of sexual violence by male students towards women. In the AD, a woman anonymously said that she was raped by four lifeguards years ago. In December, the police received two reports of sexual abuse, after which a vice detective was sent to the island to educate the lifeguards about inappropriate behavior.
‘It’s about safety’
“It’s making a lot of waves on Texel. We’ve had a lot of responses from people who had good, but also bad experiences. We think the latter is more important. Because it’s about safety, not only on the beach, but also if you want to walk around on the street at night,” says Eric Hercules of PvdA pro Texel.
Other parties stated that no charges had been filed against the students and saw no reason to stop the collaboration. According to the opponents of the motion, last season’s evaluation also revealed no misconduct.
Other beach guards
The VVD also disagreed with sending the students away. According to the party, many improvements have been made and the process was not yet complete. The party is very concerned about safety on the beaches in 2026, now that other beach guards must be found.
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