Over 500 people at illegal street racing in Breda, riot police intervene

The Mobile Unit broke up an illegal street racing in the industrial area of Breda Hazeldonk on the A16 highway on Saturday night. About 500 people with cars had gathered there, the police reported. In at least one case, fireworks were deliberately thrown at the officers.

The Belgian police had previously ended an illegal street racing in Belgium. In the course of Saturday evening, the Breda police received signals that the participants of that illegal race meeting were on their way to the Hazeldonk border crossing along the A16. Officers who went to take a look saw that the area was filling up with hundreds of cars with license plates from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and France.

When preparations were made for street races, the officers called on the attendees to leave via their sound system. According to the police, this had no effect. However, fireworks were thrown at the officers. The police then blocked access to the industrial estate together with Rijkswaterstaat, NOS reports.

More officers and supervisors were called in. A number of them, together with Rijkswaterstaat, closed the entrance to the site, so that no more cars could get in. The police also called again to leave. In the meantime, however, fireworks were being thrown and the street races were in full swing.

Therefore, it was decided to deploy the riot police around 00:30 a.m. When the riot police entered the area, a number of cars left voluntarily. The remaining 200 people were driven off the area by the riot police, without violence, according to the police.

No one was arrested, but some license plates were noted down to be able to claim possible damages.. According to the police spokesperson, a lot of waste was found and a lot of rubber was left behind on the asphalt. No officers were injured either.