‘Unacceptable and terrible’. These are words that Mayor Paul Depla uses to describe how he feels about the violent New Year’s Eve in the Tuinzigt district in his city of Breda. He spent New Year’s Eve at the police station where he saw the situation in the neighborhood derail live on camera footage.
He saw the group of rioters growing larger. And according to the mayor, it is certainly not all about people from outside the neighborhood, as some residents claim. “Then people in Tuinzigt would have said: ‘get out of here’. And that didn’t happen.”
What perhaps surprises him most is that he also saw people his age in the images: “Parents who make you think: when will you take action against your own children? Adults who let their neighborhood get such bad press. Why do you let your own neighborhood be destroyed like this? Why don’t you intervene?” These are questions that Depla asks itself.
The mayor is pleased that many reports have been received and also images. Because he realizes that residents in the neighborhood feel unsafe and intimidated by the people who spoil it again and again. In his words, it gives him ‘the rock-solid motivation’ to show the other Tuinzigt.
Because what happened this New Year is unacceptable, according to the mayor: “It has to stop. Hooligans are ruining it. And these people should not be in charge in a neighborhood.”
According to him, several generations laughed on New Year’s Eve when a camera was destroyed or when something was stabbed: “If that mentality does not stop and if parents do not intervene and set a good example, then it will be a hard battle.” Depla is convinced that this is a battle that the municipality will win together with the well-intentioned people in Tuinzigt.
In the near future, he will therefore be talking to well-intentioned people: “Because we see what this does to them. We do not want them to ultimately become victims of hooligan behavior in their neighborhood.”
He understands residents’ questions about whether the municipality should have intervened sooner. And according to him, that is also being investigated. “It is a legitimate question that needs an answer,” Depla indicates, but he does not want to anticipate that answer on this New Year’s Day.
According to him, a total of seven people have been arrested in the area. The person who knocked down the camera on Meidoornstraat is not yet one of them. “But he is on screen,” warns the mayor.
None of the officers who were attacked and pelted in the neighborhood were injured. But they also found the events impressive. Understandable, according to Depla, when you see what they were pelted with and the damage to their cars.
Police response to riots in the Tuinzigt district:
The police call the behavior of the rioters during New Year’s Eve in the Tuinzigt district unacceptable and absolutely intolerable: “The lawlessness that prevailed in the neighborhood posed a direct threat to emergency workers and the safety of local residents. Police officers were deliberately attacked and emergency workers were at risk of serious injury.”
“Groups were ready with clubs, Molotov cocktails, stones and fireworks to confront the police. Several service vehicles were severely damaged: windows were smashed and vehicles were deliberately destroyed.”
According to the police, a riot squad was deployed to get the situation under control. “After the riot police briefly withdrew, the unit returned with a water thrower to restore order. Several suspects were arrested during the deployment.”
In consultation with the Public Prosecution Service, it is now determined for which criminal offenses the suspects will be prosecuted.
In the near future, the police and the Public Prosecution Service will continue the investigation: “So that the people who were responsible for the riots will experience that they cannot get away with it,” Depla said.