Outlawing the outlaws: Hells Angels banned in the Netherlands

A court in Holland is taking on the Hells Angels. Photo / Getty Images

Hells Angels motorcyclists were banned in the Netherlands, as authorities clamped down on warring outlaw biker gangs blamed for murder, drugs and gun-smuggling.

There are 470 Hells Angels chapters in more than 50 countries, but this is the first time the group has been banned in any nation.

It is regarded as an international crime syndicate by the US Government and is believed to have thousands of members worldwide.

"Hells Angels sees itself as a one-percenter club; a club of outlaws," said a court in the city of Utrecht, quoting a motto used by the anti-establishment motorcycle gang.

"It's a club where there's a culture of lawlessness and the authorities are kept outside their doors," the court said, as it ordered every chapter in the Netherlands to close.

Branding Hells Angels a "danger to public order", the court blamed it for inter-gang warfare in the Netherlands and singled out its use of "colours" - patches given as a reward for serious violence - for particular criticism.

Dutch prosecutors have been trying to have the club, founded in California in the late Forties, outlawed for more than a decade as the authorities pursue the bike gangs that are often enmeshed in drugs and arms smuggling.

But commentators warned that the ban, which comes after attacks with explosives in Limburg, would lead to Hells Angels splitting into smaller gangs that would be harder to police.

The same court banned the Bandidos, Hells Angels' arch-rivals, in 2017.

Judges also outlawed Satudarah, a home-grown Dutch gang, last year, -accusing it of extortion and trafficking drugs and weapons.

"Hells Angels' profile is that of the largest and most powerful motorbike club. They believe other clubs should listen to them and that leads to long-running conflicts," the court stated.

In 2015, a café favoured by a rival gang in the southern town of Kerkrade was set on fire.

In 2016 a massive brawl, in which shots were fired, broke out between Hells Angels and another gang in a Rotterdam restaurant.

The Dutch court banned both the US parent club and the local organisation.

Last week, for the first time in the Netherlands, the Amsterdam fire-service sacked a firefighter for being a member of Hells Angels. A spokesman said membership was incompatible with working for the government.

The Dutch Ministry of Defence has also announced Hells Angels members will no longer be allowed to work for it.

ABOUT HELLS ANGELS

- Hells Angels are known for riding Harley-Davidson bikes, their denim-and-leather outfits and outlaw image.
- Their reputation as dangerous was boosted after the Rolling Stones' free concert at Altamont in 1969, where Hells Angels were hired as security.
- Seventeen Hells Angels were arrested in Portugal last week for "threatening national security".
- Forty-one arrests were made in -Lisbon in July 2018 after about 100 bikers attacked a rival gang.