Mayor Rianne Donders of Roermond is not pleased with the behavior of some bars during the Tour du Roer on Sunday, in which 17 catering entrepreneurs organized an alternative pub crawl through the city. Donders is “angry and indignant” about what happened at some bars.
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“Rules were consciously and deliberately violated, despite the fact that these rules were clearly communicated in advance,” Donders said on Monday evening. It considers this unacceptable and will react with severe sanctions in the event of subsequent violations.
Not actively maintained
“We did not actively enforce yesterday for security reasons, despite the fact that police and city surveillance were present,” said Donders. “This is partly due to the large number of people who were on their feet, in combination with alcohol consumption and the grim atmosphere that hung in some locations. Together with the police and the Public Prosecution Service, we are looking at whether and how we can still connect sanctions. to the violations found.”
‘Credit Lost’
The mayor states that the bars that crossed the line have lost a lot of credit, also for well-meaning colleagues. She had given the catering industry the space to organize the activities in a responsible manner, but not everyone kept to the agreements.
She will therefore make other considerations in the future and enforce violations with severe sanctions, she said.
Stirred
The municipality had warned the participating catering businesses in advance that they had to stop their activities by 5 p.m. at the latest. In particular, a pub on the Roerkade did not comply with this. When other pubs closed, hundreds of people gathered in the street in front of the pub.
This led to dangerous traffic situations. An officer who came to say that the sound system had to be turned off was met with hostility and pushed away. Firecrackers were also thrown at passing traffic, as well as empty bottles, forcing cars to continue over glass shards.
At 6 pm the police showed up on the spot, but just before that the pub had closed its tap and most people went home. The few people left hanging around were turned away by the police.
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