Jos (63) was beaten up by several men yesterday in his own restaurant Ons Ding in IJmuiden. The neighborhood feared the worst, given the number of police cars and ambulances in front of the door. But in the doorway of the restaurant, Jos’ wife Annelies spoke clearly with relief this afternoon: “He was there last night and he said: ‘We just have to open tomorrow’.”
What exactly caused the violence remains a mystery for the time being. But the message that went through IJmuiden with the village tribe was crystal clear: ‘our’ always friendly Jos is in very bad shape.
The 63-year-old owner of Ons Ding restaurant is said to have gotten into a disagreement with a few guests in his restaurant. The hot-tempered men returned just after nine o’clock in the evening and beat Jos up. According to the police, it concerns at least ‘more than two men’.
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The attack hits quite well, in the area. Friends who prefer not to be named (‘Soon those guests will be at our door’) and a few upstairs neighbors call Jos and his wife Annelies ‘deadly nice people’.
A friend: “These are sweet, hardworking people. They have had several catering businesses in Velsen for years. Just keep your hands off them. Something really needs to be done.”
“Terrible,” says Cor Varkevisser, owner of Restaurant Staal. His business is on the other side of Plein 1945, diagonally opposite Ons Ding. There is no competition between the two restaurants, in fact the owners meet regularly.
‘It’s just not fun like that’
One of Cor’s employees thinks ‘it’s starting to add up now’. She’s talking about it drug violence recently, with an alleged shooting a few days ago, a few hundred meters away.
“But yesterday’s case was something else. Men who start bashing when they don’t agree with you. It comes very close. It’s just not fun like that.” Varkevisser: “We do talk about it in the shop, straight up. I have emphasized again: look out carefully here. If you are alone in the shop at a late hour: lock the door. That kind of thing.”
Open again tomorrow at four o’clock
Jos’ wife Annelies posted a thank you note on Facebook for all the kind expressions of support. “Because I didn’t sleep all night, including all my friends and staff, we will remain closed for one day, but we will be ready for you again tomorrow from four in the afternoon,” she writes.
Despite the tough words of Jos, who would actually prefer to go back to work straight away, he would still be in bad shape with serious bruises and wounds in his face and upper body.
Two hours after the abuse Last night the police arrested a 60-year-old man on Grahamstraat in IJmuiden. The police are still looking for the rest of the group. Anyone who has seen something or knows something is asked to come forward.