On Saturday evening, the police found around 150 students in the atrium of the Xior building. One student who wishes to remain anonymous (name known to the editors) witnessed the party. “A few students invited people to join them in the communal area at nine o’clock, knowing that security usually comes and closes the building at ten o’clock. There were a lot of people, talking, playing games, drinking and having fun. There was no attention to social distancing or following the coronavirus rules. First-year students want to meet people, which is now very difficult. Security arrived as expected and people ran away to hide in various rooms.”
Cat and mouse game
When the police tried to end the party, a cat and mouse game ensued between students and police on campus, according to the student. The police apparently issued several fines.
Since the incident, security in the student complex has been tightened. Security personnel had already been closing communal areas in Xior from ten o’clock in the evening to prevent groups forming. This will now be done earlier. “The entire team will now monitor whether all the measures are being respected and remind students of their responsibility in this respect,” says Robin Cremers on behalf of the landlord of Xior.
'Irresponsible and unacceptable'
The university has also sent a letter to the students living on campus. In the letter, which is in the possession of EM, the university reminds students of their ‘civic duty’ to comply with the government’s measures aimed at tackling coronavirus and to take responsibility as representatives of Erasmus University. “If the rules are not obeyed, we will be forced to take stricter measures,” says the letter to mainly international students.
In a response to EM, the university says that it finds the behaviour of the students concerned ‘irresponsible and unacceptable’. Earlier on Thursday, community police officer Shelley van de Veen told EM TV that student parties put great pressure on the Rotterdam police force.
