Nijmegen head of government Hubert Bruls
Post-war period
In the period immediately following the end of the war, a site near Nijmegen was selected to house German nationals who were to be deported from the Netherlands, called the Mariënbosch concentration camp. It operated from 1946 to 1948.
On 23 February 1981, the Nijmegen police department and the Dutch Army stormed the Piersonstraat and Zeigelhof, a squatted housing block in the city centre of Nijmegen. Using 200 riot vans, three Leopard 1s, three armoured personnel carriers, a helicopter, 1,200 policemen, and 750 members of the armed forces, they evicted the squatters and demolished the block, while clouding the entire area in teargas and CS gas. This received enormous backlash in local politics. While the city government wanted the squatters out to build a parking garage, most of the population wanted affordable housing to be built in the area.
The city council was largely dominated by left-wing and progressive parties such as Green Party, Democrats 66, Socialist Party, and Labour. At times Nijmegen has been the only major city in the Netherlands with a solely left-wing government. The current mayor is Hubert Bruls.
Nijmegen celebrated its 2000th year of existence in 2005. It is considered the oldest city in the Netherlands. In gaining this qualification, it has competed with the city of Maastricht.
In November 2005, the city centre of Nijmegen was the site of the assassination of political activist Louis Sévèke by a former activist, Marcel Teunissen, who was arrested in 2007 in Spain and extradited to the Netherlands. Teunissen has also been accused of bank robbery. He committed his acts out of revenge for a forcible eviction from the squatter scene by Louis Sévèke.
Prime Minister President Chief Minister Premier Chancellor