Project X Haren

On 6 September 2012, a 15-year-old girl from Haren, sent 78 friends a public invitation to her 16th birthday via the social network site Facebook. She deliberately chose the option 'public', so that her friends could bring other friends. This way, the girl hoped to obtain a head count. One of her friends' friends misused the invitation and invited 500 people himself. Through the notorious snowball effect thousands of people were added to that number in a matter of days. In just two days, 16,000 people were invited. The girl then deleted the event after consulting her parents. However, others took command and quickly Twitter and Facebook were filled with terms like Project X Merthe (the name of the girl), Project X Stationsweg (the street where she lived), and Project X Haren.[4] Project X is a reference to the 2012 film Project X, directed by Nima Nourizadeh.

Project X Haren was run by a 21-year-old man from Christchurch, New Zealand, and an unknown individual from Berlin calling himself "Ibe Der Fuhrer". The 21-year-old claims he accepted the request from a Dutch person to host the Facebook event. The father of the birthday girl asked the two men to cancel the event, but they did not comply.[5][6]

After the invitation, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other weblogs and internet forums were quickly filled with conversations regarding Project X. Within a week, 24,000 people were invited and 2,400 had accepted. On 14 September, the girl's parents distributed a letter in their neighborhood to warn residents of their rising concerns. This letter quickly appeared on the internet.

On 18 September, the municipality of Haren and the local police force agreed to act strongly if the party escalated. By then, the rumours had spread to the national media. Fifty-five thousand people had been invited, and 6,000 of them accepted.[7][8] Local entrepreneurs took advantage of the situation and organised afterparties in Groningen. Between 19 and 21 September, the expected attendance grew from 8,000 to 30,000.[9] On the 21st alone, around 400,000 tweets were sent regarding Project X Haren.

Rioters facing the riot police

Riot control walking along the debris-filled streets

As a precaution, the girl and her family were moved to an undisclosed location and the neighbourhood was closed off on 21 September. Rob Bats, mayor of Haren at the time, and the municipal council decided not to organise a party to accommodate the visitors and called on people not to come to Haren.[10][11] A nearby football field was designed as a shelter in case of attendance overload and the local police conversed with German police because an equivalent Project X event had earlier taken place there.[12]

In the morning and afternoon a few hundred people had traveled to Haren, but the number of visitors appeared to be diminishing towards the beginning of the evening. However, around 7:30 p.m. thousands of youths poured in and around 9:00 p.m. the riots started. It has been suggested by Job Cohen and several columnists that the presence of journalists in the village reporting on the lack of people present and the lack of 'something happening' triggered the riots in the evening. Rioters from all around the country commenced destroying cars, bicycles, windows and street furniture. According to the police, the destruction of property was extremely violent and well-planned, and the rioters deliberately sought confrontation.[13][14]

At 9:30 riot control was commissioned to control the crowd. At 11:00 back up police officers arrived from the provinces Friesland and Drenthe. 36 rioters and 15 policemen were injured. Nearby hospitals reported cuts, head injuries and bruises. An elderly man was assaulted in his home and was badly injured. In total, 500 policemen were commissioned, of which 250 were riot control.[15][16][17][18][19][20]

Buses were sent to get people out of Haren and move them to Groningen. 12 of the 24 buses were damaged by bystanders.[21][22]