The activists welcome the tourists in their message, but also write that they believe the queue is harmful to the city. They believe that businesses like Fabel Friet and Chun outcompete smaller, authentic businesses. “Tourist shops and businesses only focus on profit, instead of giving anything back to the city,” the message reads. “You are contributing to gentrification.”
In addition, the writers behind the message criticize the queue itself: “By standing here, you block the way for people who live here. In a small city like Amsterdam there is no room for such queues.”
‘Influenced’
“That’s right,” says someone when we ask about the message behind the QR code. “I think it’s a shame that we are influenced by Tiktok.” The boy has stepped out of the line and now says he is going to eat Surinamese in East.
Another man standing in line is less sensitive to the message in the online pamphlet: “It’s sad, I know, but what can I do about it? I’m only here for a short time.”
Lawsuits
Most people queuing are tourists who got to know the business through Tiktok, although there are also businesses that allow people from the neighborhood to queue up through Tiktok. Local residents have been complaining for some time about the nuisance they believe the queues cause. A group of residents of the center went to court in May because, according to them, their living environment was ‘very adversely affected’.
In the case of Fabel Friet, the municipality tried to enforce this via the operating permit last year no more than ten people were allowed in line. The entrepreneurs behind the company successfully challenged this with the judge, who ruled that the municipality had not sufficiently justified why the rule would have a positive effect on the living environment in the neighborhood.