Twenty Four Hours Without a Shooting in Amsterdam
Amsterdam managed to go for 24 hours without a shooting. The police were unavailable for comment so we asked some ‘echte’ Amsterdammers for their views about this unusual occurrence.
Anouk de Jammeren
Het is echt niet te geloven!
(English please, this interview will be published on a site for expats).
Oh, how bad of me, speaking Dutch in the Netherlands. Sorry hoor! Ok, well, it’s really worrying that there hasn’t been a single shooting in Amsterdam for so long. Vroeger was alles zo helder/You know everything used to be so clear. You’d go out of your home, you’d hear ‘pop, pop, pop’ followed by the reassuring sound of an ambulance and police cars and it would all be fine in the end. Nowadays, things are so unpredictable.
Ali (last name witheld)
Well, you know, I’m a taxi driver, so naturally, I have an opinion about everything. Though I must say, het is niet normaal to be actually asked for my opinion, so let me think about it for a minute. Oh right, yes, so no shootings in Amsterdam for 24 hours? Dat is ongelooflijk! You know who I blame for this? Uber! Somehow, they must be to blame. I usually blame them for everything else so why not this?
Liefje van Rijke Ouders
Liefje: Doe effe normaal zeg! I moved here from Wassenaar for some excitement. Do you know what it was like to live in a town where the most exciting thing that ever happens is when one of the neighbours buys a new Range Rover? I moved to Amsterdam to get real you know? Be edgy. Living in a diverse neighbourhood with lots of minorities. I moved here for crime drugs and hockey and now this happens?
Shallow Man: Which area do you live in?
Liefje: Amsterdam Oud Zuid, in the Apollolaan. I blame Brexit. You know at least our homegrown Mocro mafia and the Eastern European gangs know how to settle scores properly. Do you feel me? But all these British gangsters moving here, they just get drunk and fight, with fists!
Business as usual
Needless to say that within an hour or two of writing this post a man with gunshot wounds was dropped off at the OLVG West hospital in an Audi A3. The drivers of the car were arrested so things are back to normal. In the words of Phil Collins, “it’s just another day in paradise”.
No innocent bystanders were hurt during the writing of this post.
