Destruction, disturbances and especially a lot of heavy fireworks: young people have been causing problems in Osdorp for three evenings. Many problems in the neighborhood can be nipped in the bud by the neighborhood mothers of Nieuw-West, but they too cannot prevent the unrest this time. “If there were a reason or a cause, it would be easier for us to have a solution.”
It all started on Sunday at the fair. The municipality therefore has to close it at 7 p.m. on Monday, instead of 10 p.m. But closing the fair earlier is not the solution. For example, the police carried out charges on Monday, 26 young people were arrested on Tuesday and the Mobile Unit had to intervene.
The neighborhood mothers and fathers are parents of young people from the neighbourhood. They voluntarily take to the streets to keep them safe. Often with success, but now that’s going to be difficult. A neighborhood dad said Tuesday night against AT5 that he had the idea that the rioters are certainly not only young people from Osdorp. Martha Likumahua agrees. She is coordinator of the neighborhood mothers on behalf of women’s organization Saaam.
group formation
“We don’t know all the young people who come here,” says Likumahua. “But of course we speak to the young people that we do know: I’m going to report it to your parents. And then they are very low-key and then they withdraw.” But this approach does not work for everyone now, and the atmosphere is not always pleasant for the neighborhood mothers either. “You see that whole group formation and you know at which moments you have to leave.”
Even today, the neighborhood mothers and fathers are again ready to address young people. The administrative triangle of mayor, police and justice and mayor had an additional consultation this afternoon about the unrest and announced ‘firm police deployment’.