Project X Haren was a riot that arose after a private party that got out of hand. A girl from Haren invited a number of friends via Facebook, but her invitation could be viewed by all Facebook users. Within a few days the number of attendees rose to more than 25,000. On September 21, 2012, thousands of them gathered and left complete devastation in their wake.
Where does Project X come from?
The film Project X was released in America in 2012. In this film, three friends invite about twenty friends to celebrate. The twenty invited friends in turn bring guests, who in turn also bring people. Ultimately it becomes a huge party that gets out of hand and the craziest and most dangerous things happen. Ultimately, the group of young people goes through the residential area, leaving behind gigantic havoc and destruction. The film was extremely popular among young people.
Progression to Project X Haren
September 7, 2012
The 15-year-old girl creates an event on Facebook on September 7, 2012, namely her birthday. She accidentally selects the option to make the event public. This means that everyone in the Netherlands can indicate their intention to attend. A number of people see this and indicate that they are present. The same people invite a large number of people who in turn invite more people. The same day the event is deleted by the girl. Others are recreating the event under the name Project X Haren
September 14, 2012
Thousands of people indicate that they will be present. Within a week, Project X Haren becomes a household name and social media is full of it. A trailer is made, a song is made and the entire internet is full of photos of the location. And it was around this day that the first mistake was made. Entrepreneurs saw their opportunity and organized after-parties. This encourages youth instead of holding them back.
September 18, 2012
Consultations are taking place between the municipality of Haren and the police. Together they make an emergency plan if the situation does indeed get out of hand. Yet they think about it lightly. They see it more as an impulsive action than a serious party.
The number of attendees on Facebook rises to 9,000.
September 20, 2012
The number of attendees on Facebook rose to more than 30,000.
September 21, 2012
Mayor Rob Bats talks to the girl’s family. It is decided to cordon off the area around the house and the family leaves as a precaution to another location.
The police and the municipality of Haren will discuss the emergency plan again. It was decided to also inform neighboring country Germany about the event. At 1 p.m., more than 160,000 tweets have already been made on Twitter. Police spread the word via social media and TV not to come to Haren. The station will be closed and access will not be granted.
Project X Haren
At the end of the afternoon only a few hundred people come to Haren. It remains quiet and at the beginning of the evening Haren even empties out again. The police seem to be right that it was indeed just impulsiveness. But between 7:30 PM and 8:00 PM they had to deal with thousands of young people who entered Haren from all sides by bicycle, car, walking or public transport.
At first nothing seemed wrong and the atmosphere was pleasant. This completely changed around 9 p.m.
- 21.00 o’clock. Small groups of young people spread across Haren seek confrontation with the police. They start throwing stones and fireworks.
- 9:05 p.m. The small groups quickly grow larger. This is because in the eyes of the youth, the police are seen as bad, evil and pathetic. Major riots are taking place in various places and are starting to get out of hand.
- 9:20 p.m. Reports of looting in shops and supermarkets are coming in. For example, the Albert Heijn was completely destroyed. A furniture store also had a hard time.
- 9:45 p.m. An 83-year-old man is attacked in his home and seriously injured.
- 9:50 PM. Corps from Friesland, Drenthe, North-East Gelderland and North Holland come to the rescue. The riot police are also deployed. Three trauma helicopters are ready to respond.
- 10:10 p.m. The riot police managed to prevent further looting and riots.
- 10:30 p.m. Buses are used to get people out of Haren. Unfortunately, only eight of these buses survived the evening.
- 11 p.m. Haren slowly empties and peace returns.
- 11:45 PM. Haren is almost completely empty and the last rioters are also returning home. Streets are covered in layers of rubble, shops are destroyed and cars are set on fire.
Figures and facts about September 21, 2012
- 34 people were arrested that evening.
- 67 reports of vandalism were received.
- More than 200 rioters clearly show their faces in the photo or video.
- 29 people were injured.
- 33 cars were completely burned out.
- More than 1,300 police and riot police were deployed.
- 440,000 tweets have been sent on Twitter.
- The riots received worldwide attention. The US, South Africa, Japan, Germany, Poland, Finland and England paid great attention to the riots in our country.
It could have been prevented
There were so many measures that could have been implemented to prevent this event from happening. For example, think of:
- Stop all train traffic to Haren. Instead, the NS started using extra trains. This actually made it easier to travel to Haren.
- Block station. The police gathered in the center of Haren to stop the rioters. If they had done this at the station they would not have even entered Haren.
But instead of taking measures, the youth were encouraged. A lot of attention was paid to the news every day. Radio stations such as 3FM and Q-music also encouraged everyone to go to Haren. But for what purpose? Nobody knew that.
Research
A long-term study has provided the necessary results. This showed that the police had indeed failed and were responsible for the devastation left behind. Some facts that emerged from the research:
- The emergency plan that was made was not tailored to the number of people attending the event.
- The emergency plan was never fully completed with all authorities.
- The municipality of Haren has done too little in the field of safety prevention.
- Residents were not sufficiently informed about the state of affairs.
The total cost of the study was 400,000 euros. The damage caused by the party in Haren amounted to several million.
On March 13, 2013, the mayor of Haren resigned following the damning reports of the investigation.