Gouda: Ending unruliness of Dutch-Moroccan youth could take a generation

Gouda: Ending unruliness of Dutch-Moroccan youth could take a generation

Via RNW:

Putting an end to trouble caused by unruly Dutch-Moroccan children and teenagers will take at least another generation, said the mayor of the town of Gouda on Wednesday.


The council of the town near Rotterdam was discussing the unrest caused by a persistent group of troublemakers. The main problem, according to Mayor Wim Cornelis, is that the parents of misbehaving youngsters are failing completely to discipline their children. The youths, aged between 8 and 15, are roaming the streets and terrorising local residents in new neighbourhoods like Gouda's Oosterwei.

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Translated from De Telegraaf (h/t NRP):

"Parents deny that anything's wrong. Nobody thinks their son is guilty," says kindergarten teacher Hayat (44). THe mother of three teenagers, can't stand the situation in the Gouda neighborhood of Oosterwei anymore and breaks the silence.

Hayat often meets problem families at work, she told AD. The Moroccan woman, who's been living in the neighborhood for 22 years, says that parents are accessories to the trouble of the rioting youth in the neighborhood. "If there are problems with their children, the parents blame the school, the municipality, the police. They don't look for the blame in themselves."

Hayat says the problem is with the culture. "In Morocco everybody help with the upbringing. In the Netherlands, suddenly everybody is on their own. Nobody interferes with each other."

The 44 year old kindergarten teacher says that the sons in Moroccan families are treated like princes. "They are allowed everything and don't have to do anything. Many Moroccan fathers sit all day in the tea-houses. the mother has the responsibility, but her son may say and do what he wants. He is the man in the house."

"Geert Wilders has very good ideas. A tougher approach. And those youth who continue on the wrong path, as far as I'm concerned you can send them back to Morocco for an education course. In the Moroccan way. If they demonstrate they've improved their lives, then they may come back."

See also: Netherlands: Minister proposes ban on troublemakers, Mayor wants the whole family out