So far, only 78,000 euros in damage has been collected from the perpetrators of the corona riots, which broke out in several cities after the curfew was introduced. They must pay 260,000 euros in damages, Minister Dilan Yesilgöz (Justice and Security) wrote to the House of Representatives. Also in Eindhoven and Den Bosch it turned out to be one or more days of riots. Large-scale destruction and shops were looted.
The total (insured) damage caused by the riots has been estimated at one million euros by the Dutch Association of Insurers. In March this year, Yesilgöz reported that the rioters had to pay more than 551,000 euros in damages from the judge. At that time, just under 37,000 euros had been collected. Now it appears that the total amount of damages imposed is considerably lower, writes Yesilgöz. An error had been made in their summing up. That has now been rectified.
Go all out
The Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJIB) is doing everything it can to collect as much money as possible from the perpetrators, the minister writes. She also indicates that in general about seventy percent of the compensation has been collected after three years and more than eighty percent after ten years.
Affected entrepreneurs who were not reimbursed for the damage through insurance or in another way were entitled to the special Regulations for business damage corona riots. A mere 230,000 euros in damage has been compensated to 36 entrepreneurs. It is being examined whether these amounts can still be recovered from the perpetrators. That is complicated, but Yesilgöz believes it is important ‘that not the government and therefore the taxpayer, but the perpetrators pay for the damage they have caused’.
On January 24 in 2021, several hundred rioters faced the Mobile Unit in Eindhoven. A demonstration, which was not allowed, culminated in a battle at 18 Septemberplein and the station. A Jumbo branch was looted in the station, among other things. A day later, in Den Bosch, too, rioters targeted shops. This is how the Primera of Maaike Neufeglise looted in the Visstraat.
The Primera branch on Visstraat in Den Bosch was looted during the curfew riots. Owner Maaike Neuféglise told her story at Omroep Brabant: