A Facebook group filled with Rotterdam residents angry that their historic bridge might be pulled apart to get Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ nearly half a billion pleasure craft to sea have a plan: they will unleash their displeasure with a bombardment of rotten eggs.
It all started when it was reported that Bezos’ mega yacht is being built in the shipbuilding city of Alblasserda by the company Oceanco. The problem arises when trying to navigate the massive 417-foot mega yacht to the sea. When it hits the waves, it will be the largest such vessel in the world. It has to pass under the Koningshavenbrug bridge, also known as the De Hef, in Rotterdam, however the masts on the sailing vessel are far too high to pass under the bridge.
This means the bridge will need to be partially dismantled. The city council of Rotterdam promised its citizens that the bridge would remain standing after it was down for repairs in 2017. Now it seems that the council will need to go back on its word.
While Bezos or Oceanco would have to pay for the dismantling, the Rotterdam public are still angry at the whole situation. One man took to Facebook, where a few thousand have pledged to pelt the fancy boat with rotten eggs as it passes through Rotterdam. Nearly 3,000 people say they will attend the event and close to 10,000 more have marked themselves as “interested.” Of course, as anyone who has ever attempted to arrange a party on Facebook knows, those numbers likely won’t translate to actual attendance. But who could miss a rare opportunity like this? The report comes (roughly translated by Google) from the Dutch publication BN DeStem:
In the call, Rotterdammers are urged to take a box of (rotten) eggs with them to throw at the yacht. ‘Rotterdam was built from the rubble by Rotterdammers and we don’t just take it apart for the phallus symbol of a megalomaniac billionaire. Not without a fight,” it reads on Facebook.
Pablo Strörmann (40) is the initiator of the protest, which, in his own words, is ‘not too serious’. Nevertheless, De Hef is close to his heart. ,,Why? Because I’m a Rotterdammer and I think people with a lot of money should realize that you can’t make everything. With this call we make our voice heard in a playful way. And I think that is going very well.”
That bit about Rotterdammers building up their city from the rubble is one of the reasons the Dutch are so angry about the potential of Bezos disassembling the Der He. The bridge was heavily damaged in a Nazi Luftwaffe in 1940, along with the rest of the city. The bridge stands as a monument to the pain and suffering of that war, and the Dutch people’s ability to rise from the ashes.
Oceanco has submitted a request the city council approve the dismantling of the Der He, Money Control reports, but nothing has been approved as of yet. The shipbuilders pointed out that this is the only way to get the ship to sea.