Justice minister Ivo Opstelten has called on Limburg police, public prosecution department officials and mayors to take part in a high-level conference about how to tackle motorbike gangs.

The talks have been prompted by inter-gang fighting in various parts of Limburg province in the past few weeks.

The discussions will centre on whether current efforts to tackle the nuisance caused by motorbike gangs is sufficient.

A spokesman for Opstelten told Nos television it is not easy to take action against the clubs because of the right to free association. ‘You can’t simply ban a club,’ the spokesman said.

Opstelten is also under fire from his own VVD party. MPs have demanded to know why the Netherlands seems unable to ban motorbike clubs, when Germany, for example, has done so.

Investigations

The Netherlands has in recent years made a number of efforts to clamp down on crime involving motorbike gangs such as the Hells Angels and Moluccan bike gang Satudarah.

Opstelten said at the beginning of 2012 that police and justice ministry officials were to launch an offensive against ‘outlaw bikers’ involved in extortion, violence and trading in drugs and weapons. Gang club houses where ‘normal rules of society’ did not apply would also be tackled, the minister said.

Since then, club houses have been shut down in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Enschede.

The public prosecution department has made several efforts to make Hells Angels chapters ruled illegal but the cases did not stand up in court.