Mayor Marian Witte has closed a ‘clubhouse’ of the banned Hells Angels in Raamsdonk. Part of the building on Stationstraat will be closed for six months. Since the ban on the motorcycle club last July, the police have found several meetings in a room of the building in question. “I think it is important to protect public order and safety,” says the mayor.
According to the municipality of Geertruidenberg, which includes Raamsdonk, the building on Stationstraat has been used by the Hells Angels since 2011.
The Supreme Court banned the controversial motorcycle club throughout the Netherlands on July 15, 2022. “Only we could not immediately close the room in Raamsdonk, as is possible with drug finds, for example. We first had to build a file,” explains a municipal spokesperson.
Multiple meetings
“During several police checks, conversations with the owner of the property and the president of the motorcycle club, it appeared that the location was still used as a clubhouse of the Hells Angels,” said Mayor Marian Witte.
It is a local chapter of Hells Angels MC Holland, but that club has also been banned by the Supreme Court. “That is because the activity of these clubs is contrary to public order.”
Public order
Mayor de Witte therefore wanted to put an end to the activities of the controversial motorcycle club within her municipality. Via the General Local Regulation, it can temporarily close a building on the basis of, among other things, public order, safety and in the event of special riots.
There was no other reason to close the building for six months, other than the meetings of the banned motorcycle club.