The public prosecution department has asked judges in Assen to ban the motorbike club No Surrender, arguing that the group is an outlaw gang and involved in drugs and other crime.

‘These clubs represent a threat to public order,’ the department said in a statement. ‘They cultivate a violent image and use that for intimidation and extortion. In addition, the committee members (together with the members) of No Surrender are structurally involved in criminal activities including drug trafficking, assault, intimidation and extortion.’

No Surrender was established in 2013 by Klaas Otto, a former member of the biker gang Satudarah, which was banned by judges in The Hague in June. Satudarah is appealing against that ruling and similar cases against the Bandidos and Hells Angels are also still ongoing in the Dutch courts.

The public prosecution department began trying to have biker gangs banned in 2007 using criminal law, but that backfired after the Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that the department had failed to properly establish that the Hells Angels formed a criminal association.