The people of Amsterdam adjust
door Marja van de Ven
P.C. Hooftstraat boarded up in fear of rioting and looting
27 January 2021
The majority of shops in the PC Hooftstraat are boarded up in fear of rioting and looting. Some businesses have gone as far as barricading their doors with concrete blocks and sea containers.
‘It reminds me of war’, says a local resident as she watches people put barricades around their shop premises.
In the meantime approximately three quarters of the facades have been boarded up. ‘We need to protect ourselves just in case’, says the manager of a clothing store.
The business owners hope that the boarded up windows and barricades will reduce the potential threat of looting and anti-curfew riots.
Passersby cannot believe their eyes. ‘It’s a ridiculous situation’, says a woman who works in this famous shopping street. ‘Who would have thought that something like this could happen in the Netherlands’.
Yet others think it is all a bit extreme. Such as this Amsterdam resident who has lived in the street for 25 years: ‘I understand that they are emptying the stores but it all seems so extreme. It is very sad’.
by AT5
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