Violence,
pickpockets and intimidation: this is what is going on around Utrecht Central
Station
Lisa
Hissink
September 18, 2025, 18:08 • Updated October
24, 2025, 02:03 •
In April
2025, the police were frequently present at the Bollendak after unrest.
© RNU
Utrecht -
The municipality of Utrecht is unable to get a grip on nuisance, criminal
aliens in the station area. This year, too, almost 1,800 incidents have already
been registered by the police. Three questions about this problem that has been
going on in the city for years.
Who are
the nuisances?
The group
that causes nuisance around the station area roughly consists of: addicted
homeless people, local youth, Eastern Europeans and groups of criminal asylum
seekers. According to a spokesperson for the municipality, it is always about
changing people and compositions.
According
to the municipality, the vast majority of the troublemakers have consisted of
Syrian young people since the spring of 2025. According to the most recent
figures, it would be 162 people, 37 of whom are staying in Utrecht. Of 31 their
place of residence is unknown and 94 people are staying in a reception centre
elsewhere in the country, spread over 45 municipalities.
What
nuisance is caused and where?
There are
fights and stabbings, pickpocketing, shoplifting, intimidation of LGBTI+ people
and drug use. In Hoog Catharijne people smoke, shout and cycle with fat bikes.
The addictive medication Lyrica was also found. This year, 1,767 incidents have
been reported until mid-July, last year there were three fewer in the same
period.
Lyrica is
a medicine for epilepsy. It dampens the stimulation in the brain, it calms you
down. It can also take away fears and make you feel happy.
The
nuisance will start in 2022 around the 'Bollendak', the Stationsplein-Oost that
is partly covered and connects Utrecht Central Station with the Hoog Catharijne
shopping center. The municipality is therefore setting up a residential
exclusion area. This is a measure whereby repeated nuisances can be temporarily
banned. The nuisance then spreads and moves to other parts of the city over the
years; such as Lombok, Smakkelaarsveld, the Sijpesteijntunnel and the
Mariaplaats. From the end of September, the latter area will also be designated
as a residential exclusion area. However, the municipality calls enforcement
'symptom control', more is needed.
Why does
this nuisance continue?
Utrecht
states that it is doing everything in its power to combat nuisance and crime of
the groups. A broad approach is being taken locally: police, enforcers and NS
security guards carry out intensive surveillance, supported by camera
surveillance and large-scale monthly checks. A special team makes contact with
troublemakers, takes them out of anonymity and refers them to appropriate
facilities such as Meldpunt Perspectief and the COA.
According
to the municipality, there must be better communication and coordination
nationally. The municipality says it cannot get a grip on the group of Syrian
youth. "It is difficult because they come from all over the country and do
not get the right frameworks in the places where they are," says a
spokesperson for the municipality. And that is why it must be taken up
nationally," said a spokesperson. Communication between different
municipalities, COAs, asylum seekers' centres and other organisations involved
has greatly improved, but according to the municipality there are "tough
problems" underneath.
In the
programme budget published today, the 'Bulb Roof' is specifically mentioned as
part of 'districts and neighbourhoods where safety issues are most urgent'. In
doing so, they mention several priorities, including: safer neighborhoods,
combating excesses caused by social unrest and countering the disruptive
effects of drug-related crime.
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