Arnhem to increase patrols around Central Station amid youth crime surge

Authorities in Arnhem plan to step up enforcement around Central Station following a rise in criminal incidents involving minors, many of whom have completed asylum procedures or are from countries deemed safe for asylum, city officials said.

Mayor Ahmed Marcouch said the station area has seen fights, shoplifting, and a recent stabbing. “The station is also a hotspot where young women are regularly harassed. A group of about forty boys went to a school to settle a dispute. That kind of situation,” he said in comments to De Gelderlander.

“It is primarily the responsibility of the national government. Many boys should be expelled, but they continue to roam. You need international cooperation to ensure their countries of origin accept them back. My responsibility is to uphold our norms and values, and to protect safety and public order,” Marcouch said.

Marcouch warned that these minors can be both perpetrators and victims. “You have nothing, no perspective. Then you become vulnerable to criminal temptations,” he said.

He noted that some youths around Arnhem Central have frozen asylum procedures. “If they have a future here, integration must start from day one. If not, deportation must start from day one. Right now they are being shuffled around—moving from station to station with no community ties, in anonymity. As soon as they form a connection to a place, they have to leave again.”

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