The Graafsewijk in Den Bosch was on edge for three days at the end of 2000. Cars burned out, windows were broken and the mobile unit had to intervene. Twenty-five years later, researchers look back: what caused things to escalate so much and could something like this happen again?
“Such an outburst is often the result of anger or dissatisfaction that has been present for some time, in combination with a unique event,” says Edward van der Torre. At the time, he was a researcher at the COT, the Center for Public Order and Safety, which was called in to investigate the escalation of the Graafsewijk riots.
In the Graafsewijk these were the death of Bouleij and the ban on the match that evening because friends and supporters wanted to honor him there. The dissatisfaction already existed: residents were angry about demolition plans and tough police actions against cannabis farms.
“There was a strong feeling: the government is against us. That had been simmering for some time. And if such an extreme incident comes on top of that, everything can explode at once.” It led to arson, vandalism and confrontations with the police.
“We can never predict exactly when things will really go wrong.”
Researcher Hans Moors, who investigated the corona riots in Den Bosch, among others, also recognizes the pattern. Yet he warns against thinking too simply. “We know a lot about riots, about rioters and about underlying tensions. But we can almost never predict exactly when things will really go wrong,” he says.
For Mayor Ton Rombouts, his spokesperson and the police, the riots are a closed book. That is why they did not participate in the Omroep Brabant series. The Bouleij family and politicians at the time also refrained from cooperation for this reason.
Where Van der Torre speaks of a combination of old anger and a new reason, Moors emphasizes that such a ‘flash moment’ is often much more complicated. “In practice, many more factors come together. Different groups, different motives and atmosphere on the street. It is not a simple sum.”
“After such a shocking evening you have to be in the neighborhood.”
Precisely because such situations are so complex, it is difficult for administrators and the police to determine when intervention is necessary. But according to the COT investigation, later published as Bossche Avonden, the mayor, police and justice could have acted differently. And could have prevented the riots from lasting three days.
“The biggest mistake was that they thought the riots were over when it was quiet again in the neighborhood on Sunday evening,” says Van der Torre. According to him, this could have been prevented by immediately entering the neighborhood. A police chief had suggested that idea, but it was not implemented.
“We walked there as researchers, but we saw no police, no youth work, no visible government. I found that really incomprehensible. After such a shocking evening you have to be in the neighborhood. Only then can you hear and see how the situation is developing,” he says.
Yet Van der Torre also had difficulty with the conclusion of the research. “On the one hand, the triangle was perhaps too naive. On the other hand, they had never experienced anything like this before and they didn’t really know what to do.”
“You can’t just send riot police if nothing else happens.”
According to Moors, there is little chance that riots will break out again as in 2000. “Now the police have much more information at their disposal than at the time.” A big difference is the role of social media. “Where people used to mobilize through cafes and via-via, this now happens online. The police also see those messages and can respond more quickly,” he says.
Yet that can also be a pitfall, such as with the corona riots in 2022. Moors: “There is so much information that it is difficult to determine which measures are necessary. You cannot just send a platoon of riot police if nothing else happens. In such a moment of crisis it is extremely complicated to act adequately and it is easy to talk afterwards.”
Van der Torre adds: “But if it escalates, as a government you have to be on top of it immediately. Otherwise, it could just get out of hand again.”
Watch our video about the Graafsewijk riots:
