Sloterdijk party centre shut for three months after violence

Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema has shut a party centre on the Rhôneweg in Amsterdam-Sloterdijk for three months. She acted after two serious outbreaks of violence in a short time: a shooting on 6 September and an assault on 24 October.

The short interval between the shooting and the assault, combined with the history of incidents, makes a risk of repetition real.Mayor Femke Halsema, in the closure order

Halsema writes that measures had already been taken to improve the situation at the venue, but they did not help. Public safety now carries more weight than the operator's interests, she concludes.

The centre has a violent past. In 2024 the rapper Bigidagoe, 26, was shot dead there. He had gone to a festival with friends and fell out with someone, who came back later and fired four bullets at him.

In the early hours of 24 October, a woman got into an argument with another woman at a party. A man stepped in and hit the first woman on the head with a heavy object, badly injuring her. Police say the officers who rushed in had to hold back aggressive guests with batons, and the male suspect got away in the chaos.

The September shooting happened at night. A man was shot on the dance floor during a party and taken to hospital. A few dozen people were standing outside the centre, yet police could not arrest a suspect.