Two Weeks In, Rotterdam's Night Entry Ban Has Brought Quiet, and Residents Want It Kept
Two weeks after Rotterdam banned people from entering De Esch area at night, residents say the disruption has stopped and want it kept; but the ban expires in October, and not everyone agrees on it.
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Two weeks after Rotterdam took the unusual step of banning people from entering part of the De Esch neighbourhood at night without a good reason, residents say the effect has been striking: the nights have gone quiet. Now the question is what happens when the ban runs out in October.
A dramatic change
The measure took effect on 23 July. Between 11pm and 5am, it is an offence to be on the streets in the designated area without a legitimate reason to be there, a response to years of persistent night-time disruption, most of it caused by people who do not live in the neighbourhood.
For residents, the difference has been immediate. “The windows can just stay open all the time,” one told the broadcaster NOS. “It was very quiet from night one.” Another resident told the regional broadcaster Rijnmond that before the ban she had been kept awake almost every night by shouting and blaring car horns, even with earplugs, and that she had finally slept well for the first time in a long while.
The neighbourhood, home to more than 4,000 people, had endured street races, drug use and prostitution at night for years. Police research found that most of those responsible came from outside De Esch.
How enforcement is going
In the first fortnight, police stopped around 100 people in the area. No fines have been handed out yet, though the penalty for being present without a good reason is expected to be more than 100 euros. Residents, their visitors, people going to a bar or event and those who work in the area are exempt from the ban.
Police and the council say the disruption does not appear to have simply moved to other neighbourhoods. Both add an important caveat, however: it is the summer holiday season, when the area would tend to be quieter anyway, so the fuller picture will only become clear later.
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The fight over what happens next
The ban is not permanent. It runs for three months, until October, and can be extended by a further three months after consultation. With that deadline approaching, a debate has opened over what should follow, and residents are worried the trouble will come straight back once the restriction lifts.
The residents’ committee wants the neighbourhood closed off at night even after the ban ends, proposing that marshals be stationed at the entrances at weekends to let in only those with a reason to be there.
The neighbourhood council, which advises the city, is against going that far. “It restricts the movement of other Rotterdammers too much,” its chairman, Christiaan de Jong, told NOS. He said he hoped instead that behaviour would change and that any disruption would be less severe than before. The council says it is too early to talk about a permanent solution, and stresses that no other part of Rotterdam needs a measure like this.
That tension, between residents who have finally got their quiet nights back and want to hold on to them, and those who worry about sealing off a public neighbourhood and curbing people’s freedom to move around their own city, is likely to define the discussion between now and October. For the moment, though, the streets of De Esch are calm, and for the people who live there, that alone counts as a significant change.