Riot police called to Walibi after visitors cause unrest
Saturday's unrest at the Biddinghuizen theme park follows fights at Fright Nights in earlier years, and Walibi is now tightening security for the coming weekend.
A group of visitors caused so many problems at Walibi on Saturday that riot police (ME) came to the park in Biddinghuizen to restore order. A Walibi spokesperson said that day that the group wanted to cause unrest.
Mayor Jean Paul Gebben of Dronten, the municipality that includes Biddinghuizen, said on Monday that a group of visitors behaved aggressively towards each other, other visitors and Walibi staff.
Walibi says it will put extra security measures in place for Fright Nights this weekend.
Trouble at Fright Nights is not new. Last year a fight on a Saturday evening led Walibi to remove actors and close the park early. Visitors also came to blows in 2024 and 2022.
Goof Lukken, lecturer in attractions and theme park management at Breda University of Applied Sciences, points to the target group: mostly teenagers, often in groups. He also points to the tension. "Generally, the level of fright at Walibi is the most extreme in the Netherlands," he said.
Theme park expert Fouad Mansveld said he saw videos circulating last week that called for unrest. "What happened last weekend is not necessarily new, there are scuffles every year," he said. People in the theme park world call such Saturdays "zwarte zaterdag" (black Saturday), he said.
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ME (Mobiele Eenheid)
The Mobile Unit is a specialised riot-police unit of the Dutch national police. Its officers are trained in crowd control and are deployed to restore public order when disturbances, riots or large-scale unrest threaten safety. In the Netherlands, the ME is called in alongside regular local police when a situation becomes too serious for them to handle alone.