As the father of two daughters, Ilan Sluis found it trivial that the Haarlem mayor did not want to speak of a gang when it comes to an intimidating and sometimes violent group of young people on fat bikes. Nearly 1,500 other parents signed his petition calling on Wienen to take the problem seriously. “You worry if your daughter is perhaps confronted with ten or twenty young people who harass her.”
When presenting the petition, Mayor Jos Wienen maintains his position that it is not a criminal gang. But he says he wants to do everything he can to tackle the problems caused by young people, as he indicated in an earlier interview. He does need more notifications for this, he says.
Ilan Sluis is one of the parents who has joined an app group of people who keep each other informed of incidents. He has decided to express his emotions on behalf of the group once, in order to draw attention to the issues that are still going on.
Letter to mayor Jos Wienen
Our beloved Haarlem and surrounding area has been plagued for months by serious incidents of violence by (groups of) young people. For convenience, I’ll just call them ‘fat bike gang(s)’. But it is not just incidents of violence, intimidation on the street and threats in various forms, but also very serious, occur regularly.
This has led to great fear, anger and powerlessness, especially among parents and their children. The situation also has a deep impact on the daily lives of many families. Children are given security equipment, from alarm buttons, hairspray to pepper spray, are no longer allowed to cycle alone to music lessons or sports training, for example, and are no longer allowed to play outside after dark. All this out of fear that the children will have to deal with these young people.
But young people themselves are also afraid. Some no longer dare to walk their dog, others have had to deal with violence themselves and are so traumatized that they no longer dare to leave the house. And I’m not even talking about those who are scarred for life because, for example, they are missing teeth after being seriously mauled.
“Young people who have had to deal with it do not dare to leave the house for weeks”
Watch here the explanation of concerned father Ilan Sluis on presenting the petition with 1456 signatures to mayor Jos Wienen.
Concerned father Ilan and almost 1,500 other parents have petitioned the mayor about the fat bike gang – NH News / Geja Sikma
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