Floradorp residents seek bonfire alternative after unrest

A group of residents in Floradorp has handed Mayor Femke Halsema a proposal for a scaled down version of the New Year bonfire she banned, and the mayor has said a response will follow.

The plan keeps the fire but changes its shape. In place of the pile of crates and Christmas trees, the residents want one manageable fire on the Floraveld, lit inside a professional fire container.

The field itself is not up for negotiation, they say, because the location is part of the tradition. The proposal takes on the safety concerns that led to the ban directly: the fire can stay, but in a safer form.

The offer arrives with last winter still fresh. The ban turned the turn of the year in the north Amsterdam neighbourhood into a running confrontation, with riot police brought in to protect the fire brigade.

What the argument is actually about, residents say, is not a pyre. Building the fire takes weeks, and in those weeks people who would otherwise pass each other in the street talk: who is ill, who needs help.

A member of the residents’ committee who co-wrote the proposal, and who asked not to be named, says a tradition has been reduced to a safety problem.

Patrick van Bronswijk of Flora4Life, for years the public face of the bonfire, supports the initiative while making clear the decision is the neighbourhood’s and not his.

Residents also report a warmer tone from Yassmine el Ksaihi of D66, who took over as chair of Noord this summer, though Van Bronswijk notes the decision is taken elsewhere in City Hall.

Nobody involved will predict a quiet New Year if the proposal is refused.

Source: De Telegraaf