“Is it about the bomb who was recently thrown in here at the beginning of the street? I don’t say anything about that.” The tone was set after addressing any resident on the Dorsendijk in Roosendaal. Just like many local residents, she reacts to the umpteenth violence incident in her neighborhood: “It was quiet for a while and now it seems to get worse again.”
Earlier this month, a house in the street was closed by order of the mayor. He made the decision after a Molotov cocktail was probably thrown in in the house. The house will stay closed for four weeks due to ‘serious danger to public order’.
The incident is not in itself. A few months earlier, one block away was also thrown in at a house. The police do not want to say whether there is a relationship between the two incidents. “I have my thoughts about it,” a passer -by lets himself down.
Intimidations, arson and even firearm violence. It has been rumbling for years in the Desmijndijk. Most incidents are related to the trade in drugs. Especially in the evenings and at night, according to local residents, it is a ‘coming and going’ of cars at a number of buildings. “I don’t ask what they are doing, I have my suspicions,” said a resident of the street.
The municipality announced in a response ‘it is of course known with this problem’. “We take this seriously, but we not only see drug nuisance in this neighborhood. We see that throughout the region. In fact, it is even a national image,” said spokesman Jeroen Steenmeijer.
“I also have children, it is good.”
It is mainly older local residents who, although anonymously, want to have their say. Other neighbors prefer to silence it, just like a younger woman who comes cycling. “I also have children, it is good.”
About ten years ago, a number of enthusiastic residents took the initiative to turn the tide. In the Desdia Foundation (merging of the mine and diamond dike) they are committed to improving the quality of life. The street interior and the greenery received a makeover, a street party was organized every year and there was temporary camera surveillance in the neighborhood.
Afterwards it appears that all efforts have yielded little. The camera surveillance has disappeared, the green beds are littered with waste and the violence flares up again. An illusion poorer submitted the last initiators of DESDIA three years ago. “We are back,” it sounds from one of them.
According to spokesperson Steenmeijer, Mayor Mark Buijs visited the neighborhood last week where he had good conversations with different neighborhood residents: “The concerns of the neighborhood residents about their safety have also been extensively discussed. In consultation with them, a number of desired measures are further investigated and elaborated.”
“Now it is waiting for the next blow.”
One of the most heard wishes of the local residents is more supervision in the neighborhood. “We sometimes see police here during the day, but it is mainly here to do in the evening and at night. Where are they? And why can’t those cameras come back to the neighborhood? It was quiet for a while. Now it is waiting for the next blow and you know what is the worst here? We are slowly used to it here.”
Mayor Buijs has, in addition to closing a home, now ‘explicitly requested’ the police to organize more police supervision in this neighborhood. According to the municipality, camera surveillance is not possible now.
