In an explosion of violence in the Amstelveen district of Middenhoven last Friday evening around 10 p.m., a local resident was so severely assaulted that she had to be taken to hospital. Local residents link the abuse to the extreme youth nuisance they have been suffering for months.
In a video of the evening in question, in the hands of NH Nieuws, you can see how a boy menacingly approaches a man and shouts: “Nice for that cancer whore” and a little later: “Should I pull on you or something?” Around them is a group of about ten young people. The boy begins to push the man. Whether the abused woman can also be seen in the images is not clear.
‘War zone’
NH News spoke briefly with the victim’s friend. He is very affected and does not want to say anything about the incident. He does say that the abuse is indeed related to youth nuisance. The victim has filed a report with the police. He has spread a witness call in the area. The police also do not want to say much about the incident, but a spokesperson does confirm that someone was assaulted after an altercation and had to go to hospital.
Local residents want to remain anonymous because they fear retaliation. “It was just a war zone,” a local resident describes the escalation. It was restless in the neighborhood early last Friday evening, a woman who lives opposite the site of the incident tells NH News. She did not see the abuse happen, but that evening was disturbed by rowdy youth. For example, around 7 p.m., the woman heard heavy fireworks explosions. “Back then, children were still walking Sint Maarten,” she says in disbelief.
Not just outside
The local resident thinks that it is not about consumer fireworks. “They make fireworks bombs themselves. The sound is not normal,” he says. The victim probably confronted the young people about setting off the fireworks and was then assaulted. The police have not confirmed this.
The man is completely fed up with the nuisance caused by, according to him, the same group of loiterers. He even decided to leave the area. The young people make a lot of noise, but are also aggressive and intimidating towards passers-by. An entrepreneur with a business in the Middenhoven shopping center confirms this. He advises his staff not to go out alone on Friday evening, he tells NH Nieuws by telephone.
“I hope that parents who know about this will say: what the hell are you doing?”
Alderman for Enforcement Herbert Raat is also aware of the nuisance caused by young people in Middenhoven in recent months. According to him, it mainly takes place around the shopping center and the school on the Orion. These are different groups of young people, but some of the young people come from Amstelveen, according to Raat.
“It is certainly a point of attention,” assures Raat. “Enforcers will be patrolling there more often in the near future.” He especially appeals to the parents of the teenagers: “I hope that parents who know about this will say: ‘what the hell are you doing?’, because it starts at home.”
For years
Yet youth nuisance around the shopping center is nothing new. For years, the neighborhood has been plagued by violent incidents involving loitering youth. Went in 2020 groups of young people fighting each other en masse. After a stabbing in 2019 alderman Raat de Orion called Middenhoven one of the so-called ‘hotspots’, where enforcers often make rounds.
The alderman does not agree with the criticism that there is nothing to do for the youth in Middenhoven and the adjacent Waardhuizen district. Last summer there were still votes for one community centre where the youth can hang out, but Raat doesn’t see that working in practice. “In addition, there is plenty to do in Amstelveen”, he says. “There are countless sports clubs, you have P60 and café Dixie, for example, and Amsterdam is just around the corner. Cycling a meter has never hurt anyone.”