Femke Halsema

Amsterdam is stepping up the fight against drug crime with a package of measures focused on making neighborhoods and their residents more resilient, and on "actively disrupting" drug dealing. Dealers will be tackled at their hangouts and garage boxes, and young people who are in danger of entering the drug world will be better monitored, the city said in a statement. 

After the murder of defense attorney Derk Wiersum in front of his Amsterdam home last week, the city is offering extra security to a large number of people. Many also connected to the case around alleged drug gang leader Ridouan Taghi. This extra security is necessary, but comes at the expense of Amsterdam's police capacity, mayor Femke Halsema and Jan Pronker of the Amsterdam police said in a city council debate on Thursday.

The Public Prosecution Service will keep using key witnesses, even after the murder of criminal law attorney Derk Wiersum in Amsterdam on Wednesday morning. "We must continue to use the means of key witnesses, otherwise we will get no further in criminal cases. Continue in a motivated way", prosecutor Fred Westerbeke said to Nieuwsuur. He wants more options in the use of such suspects-turned-informants.

The entire Amsterdam city council wants an emergency debate with Mayor Femke Halsema on undermining crime after the murder of criminal law attorney Derk Wiersum in the city on Wednesday morning. Wiersum represented key witness Nabil B., who linked fugitive Ridouan Taghi to a number of gangland assassinations.

The weapon that Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema's 15-year-old son was arrested with in July was a deactivated revolver that belonged to his father, Robert Oey, the boy's father and Halsema's partner said in an interview with NRC. The boy found the weapon in a drawer in the mayor's official residence, where Oey left it before going on a business trip to Hong Kong, he said, adding that Halsema did not know the weapon was there. Opposition parties in Amsterdam want an explanation from the mayor. 

While not all the violent incidents in Amsterdam Zuidoost over the past weeks can be linked, there is a common thread, Amsterdam police chief Frank Paauw and mayor Femke Halsema said in a city council debate on Thursday. More than conventional measures will be needed to tackle the violence in the district, Halsema said, Het Parool reports.

The police and Public Prosecution Service released a joint statement denying that the arrest of Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema's 15-year-old son was kept quiet or covered up. The boy has not been charged with burglary, but did have a fake weapon with him when he was arrested last month, lawyer Peter Plasman, who is representing the boy, said in an interview with newspaper AD. 

The entire city council of Amsterdam wants an emergency debate on measures against gun violence after a series of shootings in the city over the past weeks. There were five shooting incidents in Amsterdam over the past four days. "Firearms and violence do not fit in our city. We therefore want to express our horror at the increasing violence", the party leaders in the city council said in a joint statement, AT5 reports.

The police confiscated flyers handed out by pedophile group Kinderbevrijdingsfront during the Pride Walk in Amsterdam on Saturday. According to the police, the flyers were seized because of bystanders' severely upset reactions to them. "This man handed out flyers in the Vondelpark and the organization of the Pride Walk did not want that", a police spokesperson said to Het Parool.

The debate on the future of Amsterdam’s Red Light District was once again met with opposing ideas and interests by residents and sex workers during the last meeting held on Friday at the Compagnietheater.

The first meeting to discuss the future of Amsterdam’s Red Light District was met with disagreement and polarizing opinions on Wednesday evening at the Compagnietheater, the 18th century former church that sits in De Wallen. The meeting, organized by Mayor Femke Halsema, gathered residents, sex workers, and entrepreneurs who will be affected by the proposed changes for the area.