Anyone else see this article. That's why I keep to myself.


http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2 ... -district/

Worrying stuff, I wonder how safe it is to walk alone in the De Wallen the later the evening gets.
Last time I was over in Spuistraat during the middle of the afternoon, an undesirable Russian tried to mug me.
Yeah I wonder is there a Russian criminality element in Amsterdam.

must have read up on this, sad to read this about a decent dutch fellow has lost his life

You just can't mess with other people's problems in situations like this. You never know what other people will do, especially if they're drunk. I would never get involved in a brawl that didn't concern me, particularly one involving multiple attackers, because you have no idea what people might do.

I did Muay Thai for years and I'm a big guy, but street fights aren't won by the best fighter, they're won by whoever is willing to go the farthest. If you're willing to knock a guy on his ass, then help him up, buy him a beer, and all is forgiven, and he's willing to pull a knife and stab you, you're gonna have a bad time. Best thing you can do in situations like this is call the police and let them deal with it. You're probably just gonna get yourself hurt and you're not likely gonna be able to help the other guy anyway.

Amsterdam still seems very safe overall. I've never had any issues there, though again, I am a big, intimidating dude. Terrible that a guy lost his life like that, though. It seems like he was trying to be a good guy and help someone out, and was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Absolutely tragic, and I hope they catch the cowards who ganged up on him.

I believe that evil can only succeed when good men choose to do nothing. Some risks are worth taking.

I mean, I agree, but call the cops. Putting your own body in there is just a bad idea, and likely won't help. It just creates two victims instead of one.

The dude who owns the gym where I used to train was a BJJ black belt, trained with some very legit guys, dudes like Robert Drysdale. He got involved in an incident a few years back trying to help someone, wound up getting spiked on his head while he was trying to subdue the guy, then stomped and kicked a few times for his trouble. Knocked out a few of his teeth, cracked his skull, broke a few ribs, and had to get a bunch of stitches. This is a big, barrel-chested Jamaican dude who's been a fighter his whole life, and he got fucked up bad. He was actually pretty lucky, he could've gotten way worse than he did.

Fact of the matter is, if you train as a fighter for any length of time, you come to realize that street fighting is an entirely different thing. It's not a sport, there are no rules, your attacker is not going to fight honorably, you might be technically better than the other guy, but that doesn't matter if a few of his buddies show up or he grabs a knife or something. You're probably not gonna save whoever you were trying to help, you might even make it worse for them by pissing the attackers off, and you're probably gonna get yourself hurt or killed too.

Sometimes you don't have to make contact at all. You just have to break the aggressor's tunnel vision on his victim and remind him that he's being watched.

This one time in Amsterdam right there on the street some guy was physically intimidating his apparent girlfriend. He hadn't exactly hit her, but he was physically restraining her grasping her by the coat collar with both hands and pushing her up against a wall.

My intervention was simply to walk up just a bit closer than usual and then stare at him. He became suddenly self-conscious and let her go.

Once I saw a similar situation from my apartment. In that case I just yelled "I'm calling the police!" That was enough to break things up, at least for that moment.

I guess I'm talking more about situations like this one where things had already gotten physical. Once the violence threshold is passed, usually people tend to be much less hesitant to turn it on someone else, especially if there's more than one person involved. If the attacker is with his buddies, it creates kind of a pack mentality, they feed off each other and tends to make people more aggressive. It can create a very dangerous situation.

Of course, if it hasn't actually come to violence yet, it is much easier to diffuse.

You can look at it, from many different perspectives, I have to agree with Grimnul here, sometimes, it's best to stay out, even more so, when attackers in numbers. playing hero, can get you hurt or killed. nobody wants to feel, they couldn't help someone, but, would you rather receive a stab wound for trying to do the right thing? or feel guilt for not helping the victim? because this is the reality you face on the street.

You could help the victim, he could get up and flea, the attackers could then turn solely on you. terrible news to hear and it's really unfortunate, I'm sure many of us, would act on impulse and try to help, but you have to be sensible and most come to Amsterdam on vacation, what a way, it would be to never return home. I think if this was a woman, it would be very different and you would take your chance, but if you visit a city for vacation, the last thing you want is to get in between a fight.

that is very unfortunate for the fellow involved and of course his family. if i am correct in thinking, this is the first time a "death" has happened in the RLD for quite some time?

and personally i never get involved in other people's shit. but, each to their own.

I guess what I'm saying is that there is a sliding scale of risk, and in order to live with myself I have to be willing to take some risk rather than having a zero risk policy. That might involve some degree of physical intervention. I'm not sure I can articulate where I draw the line. And the further I age and recede from my physical peak, that line has to move. But it's not zero, that's for sure. The good have to stand up to the bad or they join them.

I think if we see someone clearly being beaten or stabbed to the point where death will occur if it doesn't stop, then as fellow human beings it is our duty to intervene (and not simply turn on our "smart" phones and film it). In reality though there is a good chance I would be too cowardly to do so. If everyone was brave enough and had the right attitude then immediately the attackers would be surrounded by a large group of people so there'd be little risk to anyone person.

Video released- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yWrKZZasvQ

Why is there never no Police around De Wallen? I think, I have only ever seen 2 on the beat once, it always appears, that no police patrol? I wonder, with this occuring, if things will change.

I've seen regular foot patrols and high speed, high visibility, bike patrols, around the RLD, every trip.
Going back a year or so ago I saw a bunch of RLD drug dealers arrested by undercovers too.

The trouble is these things can get out of hand super fast.
A lucky punch and cracking your skull on the cobbles takes no time at all.

There is a fine line between consideration and hesitation. The former is wisdom, the latter is fear.

As for the police situation, there are always plain clothes officers around. You might not notice them, but they're there. I believe there is a police station very nearby. The issue is what Shinken said. It only takes seconds. One good shot can be all it takes. Some guy suckerpunches you, you drop, head hits the stones, you're done. That's it. That's why street fights are so dangerous.

There are also plain clothes officers blending in. I'm not sure how many. But one day I saw a female and 2 male officers chase down a bad guy and none of them were in uniform, but they had badges out.

lets be honest here this sort of thing happens in every city in the uk every friday and saturday night bunch of idiots looking for a fight. having been to amsterdam 17 times in 4 years we feel safer there than where we live in the uk

Agree 100%. Can't say I've ever felt threatened/intimidated in Amsterdam.

We have been to Amsterdam 15 times , last time was 2015 . A few years ago we were walking on Damrak real late when a guy threw a hat in front of us . Of course one of my drunk buddies kicked it like a football . Hell broke loose we never seen so many what looked like Morrocans . My buddy who kicked the hat got hit pretty bad but everyone else just started swinging and kicking . By no means did we win anything but one of the Morrocans started yelling " Just keep walking " . This is what we did , we later talked to a police officer and he called it happy slapping .................To this day we don't know what happy slapping is . We did everything we could nothing was robbed just a fight . We used to go years ago and NEVER have any problems , Now my wife and I go together sometimes and we enjoy the night and the RLD . Sometimes on the way home we see some strange people who seem to follow us but we have been OK . It is not as safe as it used to be .........