Rotterdam introduces a night-time ban on "outsiders" entering one of its districts
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An unusual ban is coming into force in the Dutch city of Rotterdam: between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., outsiders without a valid reason will be prohibited from being in one of the city's districts, Rotterdam Mayor Carola Schouten announced in an interview with Dutch News.
Violators face fines. Exceptions are made for local residents, their guests, staff working at businesses in the area, and anyone heading to restaurants, bars or cultural events.
According to the city council, the goal of the measure is to restore peace and quiet to the district at night and improve safety. City officials say the area has struggled for years with rowdy groups, illegal street racing, drug dealing and prostitution. Local residents note that the situation worsened noticeably after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Residents have long complained that they prefer not to go out in the evening and are reluctant to let their children play outside. The city had already installed concrete barriers, and police patrols have become far more frequent in the area. Even so, dozens — sometimes hundreds — of people from other parts of the city still flock there on weekends.
Experts describe the new measure as exceptional for the Netherlands. Normally, mayors can only ban specific troublemakers from a given area, but in this case the ban applies to anyone who cannot give police a legitimate reason for being in the district.
Police say the new approach should prove more effective than the previous one: in the past, when a patrol arrived on the scene, offenders would simply stop their unlawful behaviour until the officers left. City authorities plan to assess the results of the ban in three months.
Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz
