Extra security measures at May fair in Groningen against rioting young people. ‘They should do it everywhere’

On Wednesday afternoon, Dirk Sipkema (55) from Apeldoorn straightens the last nougat bars. The fair opens on Thursday and it has just arrived. Last weekend he was in Haarlem.

Problems at the fair

Talk of the day is Emmeloord. The fair there got completely out of hand last week. Fairground operators were attacked by a group of more than a hundred young people. They threw fireworks and stones at the rides. Things also went wrong at the fair in the Reitdiep district of Groningen. During Easter, police officers and enforcers were attacked by a large group of young people. An underage boy was also threatened with a knife.

It makes Sipkema deathly ill. He scrolls through his WhatsApp conversations. “Look, I mean this video.” It shows how a group of young people run across the fair in Emmeloord. “Cancer Jews, cancer fair, cancer gypsies,” they shout at the camera. Sipkema (55) has been selling candy canes, nougat and other sweets at fairs for 35 years and sees that youth are becoming more annoying every year.

‘Things are going very well here’

Margreet and Wijnand Tilstra (40 and 45) also see this. The couple from Warfhuizen has a shooting gallery. Last year they were at the fair in Zaandam. Annoying boys were walking around there too. “Suddenly one of them took a gun and shot at my husband.” The bullet just missed hitting him. Margreet still can hardly believe it. “Bold as hell!”

Wijnand interrupts her. “But things have actually been going very well at the May fair in recent years.” Margreet: “That’s right. There is never any more whining here.”

Positive

They say that it is quieter at the fair is due to a new approach by the municipality. And Hans Prins is proud of that. He is ‘fair coordinator’ of the municipality of Groningen. Most fairs, such as the one at Reitdiep, are organized by other parties, but the municipality organizes the May fair.

To ensure that everything goes smoothly, about ten youth workers and boas walk through the fair every day. When they see their Pappenheimers they have a chat. ‘Everthing okay? Is it cozy?’ Sometimes the boys receive a handful of coins for a ride on the bumper cars or the Ferris wheel. “That positive approach seems to work,” says Prins.

The municipality started this approach in 2022. “We did realize that there was a group of young people who had difficulty emerging from the corona lockdowns,” he says. The municipality became aware that young people regularly use Tiktok and Instagram to plan fights and other misery. “We also organize the fair for the young people. So they have to behave too.”

‘They should do it everywhere’

Sipkema has also seen more police officers and boas in recent years. And indeed, it works. “They should do this everywhere!”

Yet there is something going wrong: the free coins for the young people. “You know, I’m from the old school. You’re not going to reward a burglar if he doesn’t break in, are you?”