Youth worker Tamara estimates that about 30 percent of the young people in Drachten carry a knife. “In the big cities you have a different mentality than here, but what happens there is also taken here.” She speaks a lot with young people, but hears little about drillrap. “I hope it stays that way for a while.”
According to her, in Drachten and surrounding villages it is mainly about the feeling of insecurity and peer pressure. “The moment everyone in school carries a knife, you will carry one too.” Anna (20) also carried a knife in her pocket, but she doesn’t do that anymore. “I didn’t feel safe. I still don’t dare to cycle on my own after 8 pm.”
Messenverbod
Since 1 September, there is a knife ban on non-illegal knives in the Frisian city. Such a ban is also being considered in other cities and villages. Both Anna and Tamara are happy with the ban, but say that it should mainly come from the young people themselves. “I don’t carry a knife with me anymore. Someone has to start stopping it. Then I thought: then just me”, says Anna.
Caroline, the sister of the stabbed ‘Chuchu’, also hopes that the knife violence will stop soon. “I don’t think you want to sit on the couch later and say to your kids, ‘I killed someone.’ I think you want to say that you got your degree and that you are working to give your kids a good future . “
She would now like to show what her brother really was like. He was not like that, as everyone writes about him. He was busy with his driver’s license and wanted to work with children and young people himself. He was doing well. We just got a good education for a good future. It is a great pity that someone that takes that away from us. “
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