A question many people are asking is, ‘why were the bonfires allowed to go ahead in Scheveningen?’
* If somehow you’ve missed all the news around Scheveningen check this and this out.
The main reason that the bonfire was allowed to go ahead, was because the municipality were concerned about what would happen if the beach bonfires were not allowed. People would just start their own bonfires, which would be harder to control as they would be all over the city. This is what NOS was told by the mayor.
Agreement not enforced
Originally there was an agreement with the builders of the bonfires that it will not exceed 35m, however extra pallets were clearly added and this made it 48m tall and it went ahead anyway. This was to prevent rioting and arson around the town, which has been a problem in The Hague for years. In the past, cars, bins and other items are set alight in the streets – this was greatly reduced when the bonfires on the beach were allowed.
HOWEVER, there has been a lot of controversy around the whole thing as the municipality did not do enough to prevent the bonfire rules being broken. The organisers knew that the bonfire was too high, as did the municipality, yet it still went ahead. Thankfully no one was injured, but many cars, houses and public property was heavily destroyed. Many of these people will not get money back from their insurers to fix the damage.
Will anything change?
Next year we can expect a lot more restrictions on the bonfires and safety evaluations. I guess we will have to wait until next year to see what happens.
What are your thoughts on this issue? Let us know in the comments!
