An overcrowded city with many drunk people, that’s what the city centers of Amsterdam and Groningen look like on an ‘old-fashioned’ King’s Day. Especially at the end of the day. It will be difficult to prevent that this year, but the municipalities will try again, for fear of unsafe situations and problems.
“Make sure you don’t have more than one piece of alcohol with you on the street. A home tap or six-pack counts as several pieces. Stores sell one can or bottle of alcohol per person,” it reads. the website of the municipality of Amsterdam.
No chilled alcohol
Shops in the city center must adhere to strict sales rules from 6 a.m. to midnight: stores are allowed to sell a maximum of one alcoholic drink per customer and not offer chilled alcoholic drinks.
In the city center of Groningen is allowed for safety reasons no alcohol in glass and cans are sold† If you take a drink in a can or bottle into the center yourself, there is a chance that it will be confiscated and risk a fine.
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Groningen and Amsterdam have been applying these rules for years. “Because we have not celebrated King’s Day in the past two years, we thought: let’s distribute a letter to entrepreneurs in the center again to point out the agreements,” says a spokesperson for the municipality of Groningen.
The ban on cans and glass in the Groningen city center has been introduced for safety. “To prevent people from throwing cans or bottles with a sip. In the past we have seen more often that there was glass on the floor and people with injuries to their feet ended up in the emergency room.”
Special catering enforcers (boas from the municipality) check whether the rules are being complied with. “We do check, but you cannot be everywhere. Action is taken where necessary.”
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‘Don’t look in bags’
Ruud Kuin, chairman of the Dutch Boa Bond, calls it an impossible task to check for such a strict alcohol measure in the crowded city center of Amsterdam. That is not the intention, he says, having understood from the municipality. “Control focuses mainly on the seller, there will be enforced, but boas don’t look at people in bags, for example. If people show up on the street with crates of beer, they will of course enforce.”
The Amsterdam police ‘only enforces in case of excesses’, says a spokesperson. The focus is on so-called emergency aid. “Writing fines is a means, not an end”, is the reaction of the Groningen police. “We’re not going to do it any differently than usual.”
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