Area ban around Utrecht Central Station extended by a year as violent incidents continue

The area around Utrecht Central Station will remain a “resident ban zone” until at least 1 November 2026, Mayor Sharon Dijksma wrote in a letter to the Utrecht city council. The measure allows the city authorities to ban troublemakers from the area and is still required because the number of violent incidents around the train station remains “structurally high,” Dijksma said.

From January to mid-July 2025, there were 1,767 incidents at the station, about the same as the same period last year, RTV Utrecht reported. The incidents mostly involve aggressive behavior, harassment, theft, and violence.

Between January and August this year, the police issued 465 resident bans in the affected area. Municipal enforcement officers issued another 154 bans. In the whole of 2024, the police issued 755 bans and enforcers issued another 226. According to the municipality, the perpetrators of these incidents are often undocumented people from North Africa, migrant workers from Europe, and teenagers from the city and elsewhere.

The resident ban zone, first implemented in 2022, allows the police and enforcers to ban troublemakers from the station for 24 hours after a first offense. If they are involved in an incident again, the ban is for a month. A third offense will get them banned for two months, and repeated violations may result in a prison sentence.

In her letter to the city council, the mayor wrote that Utrecht continues to strive for a safe and livable city with opportunities for care and support to those who need it. But she also wants a city “where unacceptable behavior and nuisance are curbed.” She hopes that extending this measure for another year will contribute to this.

Dijksma adjusted the area where the resident ban zone applies, adding Mariaplaats to the zone and taking several streets in the Lombok neighborhood out because the number of incidents there decreased sufficiently.