Fires, blown up bus shelters and the storming of an apartment: the neighborhood mothers of Nieuw-Overdie were certainly not bored during New Year’s Eve. Despite the incidents, the women are satisfied with the way New Year’s Eve went in their neighborhood. “In the end they remain boys,” responds coordinator and social cultural worker Zahra Taghlaoui.
They play with old and new neighborhood mothers of Nieuw-Overdie an important role since 2021. During their surveillance, the women speak to young people who are causing nuisance. After it happened in that neighborhood during the New Year’s Eve of 2020 got completely out of handcoordinator Zahra decided with a group of mothers from the neighborhood to intervene gently.
The whole neighborhood is happy with this, because since the neighborhood mothers have been keeping an eye on things, the nuisance and the number of vandalism have decreased during New Year’s Eve. “We have had three very quiet years here. The efforts and cooperation between community police officers, youth work and the boas who provided information to the neighborhood mothers have certainly had a great influence on this.”
This year too, Zahra thought it wasn’t too bad. Yet the women certainly did not sit still. Despite the watchful eye of the mothers, another person in the neighborhood was killed. “We had a tea break for 20 minutes, but when we returned around 8 p.m., a bus shelter had been blown up. Not long after, a second bus shelter,” she says. “An attempt was also made to set a tree on fire, but fortunately that failed. We are disappointed with such things.”
Stormed apartment
And although Zahra does not shy away from anything, it was a bit of a shock for new neighborhood mothers when a group of young people broke into an apartment. But thanks to the actions of the women, it all ended without a hitch, resident Marieke says in the Facebook group ‘News from Alkmaar and surroundings’. She thanks the mothers for their intervention. ‘While a group of twenty boys wanted to storm our flat on New Year’s Eve, they managed to redirect the group without violence.’
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“That group was so large, including people from outside Overdie, that it was a bit scary for people,” Zahra responds. “The striking thing was that in the end it was not very intimidating for us. They listened and left. You can just see that they challenge each other and walk with each other. They are not big boys, but teenagers.”
“Hey guys, don’t do that!”
In all incidents, a simple “Hey guys, don’t do that!” was ultimately enough. “The best part was that they were all so friendly. You notice that there is a lot of respect for us. We were not shouted at, no one shouted at us to leave. It remains special to experience; that you make a big impression as a mother figure. on those guys.”
In short: mission accomplished, according to Zahra. “It all seems like a lot, but it wasn’t too bad. Looking back, it was a great New Year’s Eve that we look back on fondly and had a positive influence on.”
Mayor Anja Schouten states in a letter to the city council that New Year’s Eve in Alkmaar passed in a ‘manageable’ manner. That does not mean that there were no incidents. “For example, there was a container fire, destruction was caused in various places and heavy fireworks were set off in various places,” she writes.
Twelve patients were admitted to the Northwest Hospital with injuries, mainly caused by fireworks. Unlike previous years, there was no violence towards police, firefighters and ambulance personnel.
“During the evening I made a number of working visits to various aid stations. It was good to see that we can count on so many committed people for a good and safe New Year’s Eve. I would like to thank the efforts of the neighborhood mothers, involved local residents, youth workers, police, enforcement, fire brigade, ambulance service, Stadswerk072 and many others.”