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Utopia Talk / Politics / Amsterdam worse than San Fransisco?
Paramount
Member
Tue Jul 31 11:08:26
Amsterdam 'lawless jungle' at night, ombudsman warns

Tourist hotspot Amsterdam turns into a "lawless jungle" after dark with the police powerless to intervene against crime and violence, the city's ombudsman warned in an interview Saturday.

"The city centre becomes an urban jungle at night," Amsterdam's official ombudsman Arre Zuurmond told Dutch daily Trouw, warning of illegal car and bike races zooming through the streets, open drugs sales and general mayhem.
"Criminal money flourishes, there is no authority and the police can no longer handle the situation," he warned.

Some 18 million tourists flock to Amsterdam every year -- more than the entire population of the Netherlands.

Over the past year, the city has sought to take major steps to push back against unruly visitors instituting stiff fines and penalties for breaking public disturbance laws.

But enticed by cheap travel, groups mostly of young men -- mainly from elsewhere in the Netherlands or Britain -- frequently roam the inner city's canal-lined streets at weekends, on pub crawls or to celebrate stag parties drawn by easy access to drugs and the notorious Red Light district.
Zuurmond paints a painful picture of the city centre's nightlife after previously setting up three cameras in the busy Leidseplein square ringed by bars and clubs.

"One night we counted 900 offences, mainly between the hours of 2:00am and 4:00am. The atmosphere is grim, and there is an air of lawlessness," he said.

"Scooters race through the pedestrian areas. There is a lot of shouting. Drugs are being bought. There is stealing. People pee and even poop on the streets," he said.

"There is violence but no action. You can even pee on the van of a mobile (police) unit and the driver won't say anything."
Zuurmond, who has taken the unusual step of moving into the heart of the city for two weeks this summer to observe first hand the problem, also highlighted 2,000 illegal taxis roaming the streets at nights for fares and a flourishing black market with racketeers dealing in wads of cash.

In the Red Light district "the streets are so packed in the evenings that there is a very unsafe public situation in the event of a fire or a heart attack as emergency services cannot get through."

He pointed to measures to clean up the New York underground 20 years ago, by focusing on one station at a time.

Such a plan could be put into action in Amsterdam, moving through one area at a time, perhaps starting with the central Leidseplein, he suggested.

http://afp.omni.se/8dc88545-cdcb-4551-9ae9-cbb9d2b84828



”People pee and even poop on the street”
Paramount
Member
Tue Jul 31 11:10:53
”You can even pee on the van of a mobile (police) unit and the driver won't say anything."

lol
Hot Rod
Revved Up
Tue Jul 31 12:14:20

If I was them and if it were legal I would call out the military.

Cherub Cow
Member
Tue Jul 31 13:54:51
That’s a good idea. The military likes to party in the red light district
Nimatzo
iChihuaha
Tue Jul 31 14:21:29
Riot gear, batons and tear gas is enough. Get in there and reclaim the jungle. Do we have anyone in Holland who can give some backstory to this?
yankeessuck123
Member
Tue Jul 31 14:52:36
Hot Rod further demonstrating that he is a full-blown authoritarian
Average Ameriacn
Member
Tue Jul 31 15:04:00
Won't get better until Trump tweets about it. Do you remember how he saved London by lecturing Khan? He could do it again.
Nekran
Member
Tue Jul 31 15:08:23
It's been a few years since I've been to Amsterdam, but this definitely sounds extremely exaggerated.

It was most definitely nothing close to this in 2014.
Hot Rod
Revved Up
Tue Jul 31 16:09:52

Not at all, I just believe it is necessary to keep the peace.


Meanwhile, yankee sucks believes in total anarchy.

Hot Rod
Revved Up
Tue Jul 31 16:15:09

I doubt San Francisco is like it was four years ago.

Paramount
Member
Thu Aug 02 03:31:12
Maybe Holland could also leave the EU so they would be able to secure their borders and stop all the tourists and criminals from coming to Amsterdam to pee and poo on the streets and to sell drugs.
Paramount
Member
Thu Aug 02 03:32:02
* Netherlands
jmpfce2
Member
Fri Aug 03 18:17:09
its true

Amsterdam is lost to islam, mosques are used to recruit radicals

police uses double standards because they are afraid for more problems when confronting moslims

many are moving out
kargen
Member
Fri Aug 03 18:25:13
Build a wall and make the British pay for it. They are usually the ones fucking everything up. They been doing it for a few centuries.
Paramount
Member
Fri Aug 03 18:27:30
”groups mostly of young men -- mainly from elsewhere in the Netherlands or Britain -- frequently roam the inner city's canal-lined streets at weekends, on pub crawls or to celebrate stag parties drawn by easy access to drugs and the notorious Red Light district.”
jmpfce2
Member
Fri Aug 03 18:35:08
^

well that sounds not so bad ,

but if you express yourself as gay or dress sexy as a woman you should watch your steps
Pillz
Member
Fri Aug 03 18:36:44
Kargen gets his germanic languages confused? It's the Germans who ruin everything
kargen
Member
Fri Aug 03 18:52:27
Nah the British have been consistently fucking things up around the globe for a long long time. Granted much of it was while in a pissing match with the French. Last several years it has been mostly young drunk British types running amok all across Europe.
I admit when Germany decided to fuck things up they went big but the British have been doing it for a lot longer.
Canadian
Member
Sun Aug 05 19:21:17
I've been in Amsterdam twice over the last 16 months for travel, both times was still in town late at night. Depending on where (the centre is full of bars, and therefore drunks), there is just your usual fucktard level of drunken stupidness. Last time I was there was when Russia played Croatia in the World Cup - some drunk Russian in the Red Light District got stomped when he tried to throw down with a Croat. Croat was a nice dude and even tried to help the guy up after.

Drug sales and public urination don't really surprise me (they occur in open daylight in a lot of cities, - like mine - not just A-dam).
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