Police and the mayor of a sleepy Dutch town “failed” in their handling of a riot triggered when thousands attended a party after receiving a Facebook invitation meant to be private, a probe found on Friday.
About 4,000 revelers descended onto the northern town of Haren in September after a local girl accidentally posted a public invitation for her 16th birthday party on the social network.
The soiree descended into chaos, with partygoers pelting police officers with rocks, bottles, flower pots and even bicycles, shops looted and chairs set on fire throughout the night.
“Right from the start authorities had no grip on the problem, there was no clear strategy to deal with it and what they did was insufficient,” said Job Cohen, who chaired a five-person commission to investigate the so-called “Project X” riots.
Haren Mayor Rob Bats “did not make proper use of his competency to use all means at his disposal” to control the rampaging youths, many of whom traveled by train to converge on the quiet neighborhood, he added.
“If this was a test for the police, you would have to come to the conclusion that they failed,” Cohen said.
By the end of the night of violence, at least 29 people had been hurt — including three officers — 108 were subsequently arrested and damages ran into hundreds of thousands of euros.
Images of bonfires and blood streaming from the heads of youths after running battles with riot police shocked the Netherlands, better known for its tolerance and non-violent culture.
Youths had started arriving in Haren early in the afternoon, many of them carrying alcohol and some drugs, Cohen said.
Officials had prepared for trouble by blocking access to the girl’s street, banning alcohol consumption near her home and having the teenager herself quit the premises.
However, riot police had to intervene when a couple of hundred drunken youths tried to get into the street.
After pelting the police with missiles as they tried to force their way into the street, groups of rioters moved on to the center of the town, where they wrecked cars, fencing, street lamps and signs.
Some of the partygoers wore T-shirts bearing the words “Project X Haren,” an allusion to last year’s US teen film Project X — about a suburban birthday party that gets out of control after an invitation goes viral.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
RSS