From urinating in public and intimidation to throwing rubbish on the street. According to residents of the enclave village of Baarle-Nassau, fireworks buyers cause a lot of nuisance. In Baarle-Hertog, Belgium, fireworks can be sold all year round. But the customers don’t behave, says local resident Gianfranco Massoni. The two municipalities would do too little about preventing problems. In protest, the neighborhood association closed off part of the center on Saturday afternoon.
The intersection of Kapelstraat with Molenstraat was closed with fire pits and crush barriers, so that motorists could no longer drive to the fireworks shops. The plan to also light the fire pits was canceled last minute at the request of the Belgian police who ‘didn’t think it was such a good idea with all the fireworks’.
“We have been talking to both municipalities about the nuisance for years. There are six fireworks shops here. Around 2013 it was said that those permits would not be extended and would end in 2018. But those shops are still there. In fact, the permit has not only been extended, but the shops may also have more fireworks,” says Massoni about the policy of the Flemish Baarle-Hertog.
“When the police are gone, it becomes like a slum here.”
The shops themselves are not doing anything wrong, fireworks sales are legal. “There should be much more control by the Dutch and Belgian police. If there is, then those young people will behave a little better. But when the police are gone, it will become a slum here.”
The municipal policy is evaluated every year in January. But the local residents don’t want to wait for that anymore. Massoni: “It’s a bit of a mess. Then the municipalities conclude during the evaluation that things didn’t go well and they hope that things will improve in the coming autumn.”
“A local resident was chased by those young guys”
The situation threatens to escalate, says Massoni, who speaks of intimidation. “If you address those boys about their behavior, they will swear and threaten. I have never experienced it becoming physical myself. But last week a local resident said that he was chased by a car with a few young guys for a long time when he saw them on their behavior be.”
“Very scary, because there was also a small child in the car. Only when the local resident got angry, got out of the car and took a stick from the trunk and walked towards the car, did those boys leave.”
“It’s extremely quiet in my store right now.”
Fireworks dealer Gijs ten Velde of Zena fireworks is not happy with the action of the local residents. “Because of the blockade it is now extremely quiet in my shop. And that on a Saturday”.
According to Ten Velde, the municipality of Baarle-Hertog in particular is lax with measures against the nuisance: “There has been talk for ten years about moving the fireworks trade to a business park outside the village, but that is not getting along”. Moreover, according to him, the vast majority of customers behave properly. “But there are always some bad apples.”
Frans de Bont, mayor of Baarle-Hertog, says he understands the action of the local residents. “Normally, the fireworks nuisance only starts in December. This year it was very early, as early as September. And it was already very busy here in corona time, because fireworks were not allowed to be sold in the Netherlands.”
“It’s an unsolvable problem”
The mayor disagrees with the criticism that the municipality is doing little. “For example, we already set up one-way traffic in mid-October, normally we only do that in December. And a toilet van will arrive as soon as possible, a suitable location has already been found. Moreover, the police patrol a lot from the Belgian side. But it is not possible to to do that all day. It’s an unsolvable problem.”
If it is up to De Bont, fireworks may only be sold in December in his municipality. And the shops are quickly moving to the outlying area. “But we are bound by national rules regarding sales. As far as the move is concerned, we have been rejected by the Council of State. For the time being, we can only try to limit the nuisance. Because those problems are impossible for the local residents every year.”
A spokesperson for the municipality of Baarle-Nassau says that consultations have been held this week. “It has been agreed that there will be more BOA supervision. We will also check more strictly for possession of fireworks on Dutch territory.”
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