The owner of the Turkish bakery Asya in Bergen op Zoom estimates the costs to his business at more than €100,000 after the third attack in a short time. No suspects have yet been arrested for the three explosions in less than two weeks. Local residents feel increasingly unsafe due to the unrest in the neighborhood. “Should I get stuff ready to run?”
The owners of the bakery are three brothers who took over the business from family six years ago. “Less than a year ago we renovated and now this is happening,” says one of the owners. “It is not yet known who did this.” The police did tell him that they saw two boys running away on camera images.
Local resident Nicole heard a big bang on Friday night. “I was just about to go to sleep, but I heard a bang that didn’t sound like normal fireworks. Afterwards it turns out that the bang was inside, which made it sound different.”
The unrest in the neighborhood has been bothering her for some time. “On December 29, a scooter they had parked at an intersection exploded, there have been several attacks on the building and on December 31 there was a call on social media for a mass gathering at this location.”
Images (seen in the video with this article) show a big bang, followed by a large flash of flame.
“Must be terrible to experience something like that.”
Nicole feels very unsafe after the series of attacks in recent weeks. “You are very on your guard. I have a child and I am heavily pregnant. You wonder if you are still safe. Should I prepare things to flee if necessary?”
Mart van Leeuwen lives nearby and wonders who is behind the attacks. “The owner is a very nice man and they have delicious sandwiches,” he says.
His wife José is also very shocked by the unrest in the neighborhood. “It’s a very sad thing. There is so much damage this time. It must be terrible to experience something like that.”
Local resident Alex Pijnen wonders what the motive for the attacks is. “I can’t imagine it being anything criminal, because he is a very nice man. There is often a group of boys hanging around here wearing hoods and black clothing, but I don’t know if they are behind it.”
“We assume it is intentional.”
A local resident cannot imagine that. “I once asked the group of boys to leave the playground so that small children could play and they did so nicely,” she says.
The police conducted a forensic investigation at the bakery on Saturday. “We assume it was intentional, but we do not yet know whether the cause was heavy fireworks. That question is part of the investigation,” said a police spokesperson.
According to the police, it is still unclear who is responsible for the fire.
WE WROTE THIS PREVIOUSLY ABOUT THE UNTIL IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD:
Another fire at Turkish bakery after a fireworks bomb explodes