Cees Engel, former manager of camping Fort Oranje in Rijsbergen, has passed away, according to Jeroen Pols. Engel’s legal advisor reports this on Twitter. It is not known what caused Engel to die.
“After decades of fighting a resentful government, Cees Engel has passed away. A special person who stood for justice and a scientist in heart and soul. The battle for Fort Oranje continues,” writes Pols. Engel is the father of Viruswaarheid frontman Willem Engel.
Camping Fort Oranje
Fort Oranje is the campsite of which Cees Engel was the manager together with his son Jan. There has been a lot to do about the campsite over the years. It even led to a series on TV channel SBS.
In June, enough was enough and then mayor Leny Poppe announced the closure of Fort Oranje. She called the campsite a criminal residential area where people live in appalling conditions.
It led, not for the first time, to a storm of proceedings. Ultimately, the Council of State decided in the autumn of 2017 that the closure was allowed to continue. The English then initiated proceedings on the merits, but were again told in June 2021 that the closure was justified.
According to the judge, various fines have been imposed since 2010 and the GGD reported the appalling living conditions on more than one occasion. In addition, about 500 incidents were registered with the police between 2014 and 2017, which were largely related to theft, violence, drugs, prostitution and fire at Fort Oranje.
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