Hoog Catharijne in Utrecht will be closed at night due to serious nuisance. The walking route is currently still open 24 hours a day as a passage to and from Utrecht Central station.
The municipality of Utrecht reports that the night closure may take effect this summer and will remain in effect for at least one year.
According to the municipality, the shopping center has become an “attractive meeting and hangout spot”. “Over the past six to eight months, both the number of people and the nuisance and incidents at night in Hoog Catharijne have increased, and the atmosphere is becoming grimmer.”
Thirty to fifty people come to Hoog Catharijne every night to “sleep, hang out and/or deal or use drugs”. According to the municipality, it concerns a changing group, consisting of residents of Utrecht and migrants from Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. According to the municipality, the problems are mainly caused by an increase in the number of Syrian and Algerian youths.
There has been a lot of nuisance around Utrecht Central station for months. The municipality expects that the night closure of the shopping center will reduce the nuisance around the station. However, it will be checked whether the nuisance is moving to other parts of the city.