Alcohol sales limited, "vulgar" dancing banned at Summer Carnival in Rotterdam

The Summer Carnival in Rotterdam will be subject to stricter rules and harsher enforcement this year. The city is limiting supermarket alcohol sales to one non-refrigerated drink per person. And the carnival organizers banned “vulgar” dancing, Rijnmond reports.

The municipality of Rotterdam limited supermarket and convenience store sales of alcohol to one drink per customer. The drink cannot be cooled - so unrefrigerated - and people are not allowed to drink it on the street.

A similar alcohol ban always applies to the city center streets. But according to the municipality, retailers and citizens don’t comply with the agreements that apply during events. The police will, therefore, actively enforce the rules during the Summer Carnival.

The organizer of the Summer Carnival itself decided to ban “vulgar” dancing this year. “Dancing can be very provocative and/or vulgar. Especially in pairs, when certain sexual movements are imitated on the street. That is not allowed,” the organization said on its website.

The organizers also implemented guidelines on clothing and other forms of expression. “It is strictly prohibited to engage in offensive behavior in any way,” the website reads.

Eva van der Vegt, director of Rotterdam Unlimited Summer Carnival, told Rijnmond that they found the extra rules necessary because it is a family event attended by many small children. There have been complaints about offensive behavior in recent years, and the organization wants to prevent it, Van der Vegt said.

According to Van der Vegt, this is more a call for decency than hard rules. She acknowledged that sexy dancing is inextricably linked to the Summer Carnival, and it is “very difficult” to distinguish between sexy and vulgar. Enforcement will therefore be “on a case-by-case basis,” she said.

The only dance banned by name is “bubbling.” According to Rijnmond, bubbling is often called a mating dance because it involves two people rubbing their genitals against each other. “We don’t want that,” Van der Vegt said.