Mayor Halsema introduced, among other things, a ban on street parties and the illegal sale of alcohol. Boats were also allowed to carry a maximum of twelve passengers. The municipality itself says that this made it less busy and more manageable in the city compared to previous editions.
Today there are varying sounds from the Jordaan about the course of the day. For example, one woman calls this King’s Day different from other years, because the ‘shuffling through the streets’ started later in the day. A resident of Madelievenplein is also positive: “It was actually quite well regulated.” Another Jordanian: “Previous years it was busier, there was more rubbish and there were many more people urinating in public.”
“No enforcer seen”
Other neighbors are less positive. “It was just really busy. I live up here and it just looked exactly the same.” Another: “I didn’t see an enforcer.”
Some residents on the Amstel were also not satisfied with the effectiveness of the new rules: according to them, the problems were actually shifting. A female resident of the Amsteldijk: “It was madness yesterday: a lot of people came from boats, had no toilet facilities and walked into the gardens to pee.” She calls yesterday ‘the busiest day ever’.
