With a grim weekend full of incidents behind it, Zandvoort is bracing itself for the coming weekend when the announced high temperatures will flood the beaches again. Yesterday cameras were placed on the boulevard of the seaside resort. The municipality hopes this will prevent disturbances from last weekend.
Zandvoort is bracing for another sunny weekend – NH News
After last weekend, floor manager of beach club ‘Mango’, Merlijn van Velthuijsen, is not looking forward to what is to come. “I actually shit my pants a little bit,” he sighs. “This weekend it will be beautiful weather again. I think it will be the same thing. And then the summer holidays have not even started yet.”
“We do everything we can to keep it manageable”
Mayor of Zandvoort, David Moolenburgh acknowledges that a lot of rottenness took place in his municipality last weekend. “It is the behavior of figures who come this way to misbehave,” said Moolenburgh. “And we really do everything we can to keep it manageable.”
Broad social problem
According to the mayor, the unrest and bastardization is a social problem. “That’s not just in Zandvoort,” says Moolenburgh. The answer to the question of whether much harder action should be taken against this is in the affirmative. “You have to. But you also have to be quick. What you often see is that it starts with small clubs. Then at some point it clumps together and problems arise. The sooner you get there, the faster you can nipped in the bud.”
No respect for authority
According to entrepreneur Eric Koning, who runs a small clothing shop on the boulevard, the group of ringleaders simply cannot be corrected. “It’s a group with a migration background,” says Eric. “Most people don’t dare to say that and I have to say: it doesn’t bother me personally either. But apparently this group has no respect for authority. They are addressed, but they shrug their shoulders. There is an arrest and in no time thirty people are shouting and clapping around it. That is very strange.”
“Then you get scolded: cancer this, cancer that and all other diseases”
Floor manager Merlijn draws the same conclusion. “Sunday evening I went to clean up the beds on the beach,” he says. “There was a group of boys doing laughing gas on the beds, which is not allowed. So I calmly say: five more minutes guys, I’m going to clean up the beds. Five minutes later I come back and I’m only being yelled at. Cancer this , cancer that, all other diseases. And then you have to get another security guard. You can’t have a normal conversation with them.”
“When I hear that so many young girls are being harassed, I think: what are we doing?”
At the local supermarket, which had to close its doors earlier on two occasions last weekend due to looting, several customers sigh that it is getting worse every year. “You feel the tension,” said a woman who has lived in the seaside resort for years. “And when I hear that so many young girls are being harassed. Families with young children. Then I think: what are we doing?”
“It’s a hell of a job when you see what’s coming here”
Mayor Moolenburgh does not want to guarantee that the coming weekend will go better than the previous one, but he does claim that the maximum has been scaled up. “As soon as we work together really well, so not only the police but also the enforcers, also the lifeguards and the rescue brigade, we can keep it manageable. But it’s a hell of a job when you see what comes here on average and what’s happening here.”
Trust in good outcome
Entrepreneur Eric remains positive despite the grimness and trusts that the problems will be tackled. “I also think that we should give the signal that we will not tolerate this in Zandvoort and that we will do everything we can to keep the atmosphere here good. I would also like to say to people: come here. Show yourself, don’t stay away. Come and enjoy yourself.”
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