The number of incidents involving threats and gross violence by and against young people in Velsen-Noord in recent weeks has been piling up. A 19-year-old boy is even said to have suffered a skull base fracture and a concussion. Some children from this violent group are estimated to be very young: “I know who they are”, let someone know on Facebook. “You can get a big mouth from them, ages 8 to 13, really ridiculous.” The police do not recognize the image.
The Facebook group ‘Je bent Velsen-Noorder als…’ is teeming with shocking stories. For example, the story of a mother of a thirteen-year-old girl last Wednesday: “The police have just left here in connection with the assault on my daughter (13), a friend and a friend of hers. One was kicked in the face, the other in the back!”. Or Linda about her son and a boyfriend earlier this week: “One has taken his phone, stolen and used debit card. The other has been hit. Not normal anymore.”
The mother of the abused daughter also mentions the alarmingly low ages of some of the perpetrators: “It is a group of boys and girls of approximately between 8 and 15 years old. Four were actively violent and the rest looked on laughing.”
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To top it all off, a mother yesterday shared the story of her 19-year-old son with an intellectual disability: he has been ‘bullied for over a year’ and ‘cannot play outside normally, because they keep looking for him.’
Last Tuesday he suffered a skull base fracture and a severe concussion in a collision with a bus at Cineworld in Beverwijk. His mother made an appeal in the Facebook group yesterday: “We would like to know what happened because there are rumors that my son was being chased. This is really going too far.”
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A police spokesperson was able to confirm that a boy on a bicycle was hit next to the cinema on Emplacementsweg. But he could not ascertain that the incident was the result of a chase.
The spokesperson was also unable to confirm the image that a group of children and young people has been terrorizing the neighborhood in and around Velsen-Noord for a while after a conversation with the local police officer. According to him, too few reports and declarations have been made for that. “One report was made in the past week, on Tuesday of that girl,” he says. “The same evening, a report came in of a woman who was harassed when she was walking her dog.”
“If everyone tells the stories, but doesn’t report, then we can do very little,” he continues. “You can also make a report via Meld Misdaad Anoniem. That is independent of the police, so we really don’t get to know the identity if people are afraid of it.”
Situation that plays a few weeks
Other authorities are aware of the problems with the children in the village. Youth worker Lars Steeneken can well understand the parents’ concerns: “It is a situation that will play out for a few weeks, so we still have to find out where exactly the problem is, together with network partners: what exactly is the situation? Where can we mediate? “
“We think boredom at the end of the holiday is also a point”
Steeneken and his colleagues do everything they can to prevent the unpleasant incidents: “We are often present in the neighborhood, work with role models: boys who do well, have found work and are very much present in Velsen-Noord. We also try to contact the parents of the young people who do this.”
The youth worker thinks that the start of the school year next week can also make a big difference: “Of course there are always incidents. They happen everywhere. We think that boredom at the end of the holiday is also a point.”
See here screenshots of various posts and comments on the violence and threats.
Violence and threats in Velsen-North
Violence and threats in Velsen-North
Violence and threats in Velsen-North