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Four times before, the semi-permanent cultural building, which had been opened since February, was burgled, where four social and cultural organizations rented space.
In the night from Friday to Saturday, the final blow came: four underage – under the influence – teenagers (16 and 17 years) from Vleuten and Maarssen broke in, drank spirits in the area of the BuurtWerkKamer and lit a fire. In no time a raging fire started that completely destroyed the building, including the studio of theater company Het NUT.
Artist
It could have turned out worse: a few meters further, a foreign artist slept in the maker’s house of art location Raum. “The four boys had first smashed a window here, but then decided to go to the other building,” says Notten. The police have camera images showing the boys’ action.
A number of Raum’s artists were working on the construction of an art installation on Monday. In the background the blackened remnants of debris left over from the inexorable sea of flames. The smell of the fire that has been extinguished for hours afterwards is in the air.
Kitten lamb
“Those boys were kitten-lamb. Bottles of spirits have been found ”, one of them says. They also made videos of their actions. “When they ran away in panic, a cell phone with an ID card was left behind.” The artist in question who was sleeping on the premises moved to a hostel after the event, which triggered many emotions.
Deplaatsmaker is looking for replacement space for the four organizations affected, together with the municipality. “Taking care of them is our priority. We all came together at the place, that was an emotional event. The clearing up, but also the remediation of the soil will take a lot of time ”, says Notten. A fundraising campaign has already yielded more than 10,000 euros.
Neighborhood police officer Robert Wilmink: „We have the perpetrators, they are still in custody. If there is intent, this damage will eventually be recovered from the parents, ”he says.
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