Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Failure of Mayor and Police Resulted in Chaos in Haren

A committee headed by former Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen has investigated the chaos of violence and destruction in the village of Haren in September 2012. A girl had posted on Facebook an official invitation to her 16th birthday party. Hundreds of youths from all over the country came to the village. Most came out of curiosity and there was no indication that people had come to riot. The report claims that the authorities had greatly underestimated the problems which would result. The organization of the police was poor – units had no communication with each other. There were many leaders, but little leadership. Policemen felt left alone by their authorities. There was a prohibition on alcoholic beverages that evening, but police didn’t respond against drinking youths.

No comments: