Very cool that woman. Brilliant stuff. But THUGS?! These are just bored teenaged boys doing what bored teenaged boys have always done. There was hardly a decent punch or kick in that 'fight'. Compared with the violence we see in other countries, this half-hearted attempt at fisticuffs is amusing more than anything. Hardly a sign of the disintigration of modern society.

Now this... this is action: http://www.copenhagenize.com/2009/12/stopping-robbers-with-bicycle.html

Thing is, Amsterdam (and NL) has quite a history of these kinds of fights, in which one (or group) kicked/beat the victim to death (there's one memorial in downtown Amsterdam for a boy who tried to stop a fight like this and became the victim himself), so I understand why the woman deemed it necessary to intervene and why this was on the news.

Yeah, I tweeted the China man, cool stuff.

Zakkaliciousness,
Regardless of which hoodie was the aggressor or defender I agree that it was just annoying, bored teen boys doing what they do. As a kid in New York I got dragged into hundreds of such fights, usually much worse, involving rolling around pummeling each other's faces in an empty lot or playground. Too bad no lady on a bike ever pushed through the ring of onlookers to end it.

Here's to "Ms Not Not my Business Amsterdam 2009"!

I got stuck in the middle of a street fight while on my bike the other day. A bunch of kids were shoving and hitting each other. They were in the middle of the street I needed to be in and I was too tired to go around. I couldn't get off the bike with my son on the back so I pulled up and gave them the "withering Mom look"! It only works if you keep constant eye contact and stand up very tall. I can't say they all stopped fighting, but 2 of them started to walk away and the others dragged themselves out of my way so I could get through the intersection.

Woman on bikes are frequently underestimated : )

after watching Mikael's video today I can imagine that scene even better...those eyes, those eyes! ;) Seriously, I never underestimate women on bikes...estimate, yes, but that's just my hobby :).

True to form, Adrienne, well done.

(If you were wondering: I'm on my 3rd Advil trying to beat a severe headache and I'm getting desperate to distract that part of my brain that hurts the most...)

wow...that is scary. She is one brave women. I hope those guys get busted somehow...why are dudes so stupid??

She sure is, lief, and hope so too. Some just are and then they have a bit too much to drink :)

So the kid in the white hoodie was an attacker not an attackee and it was the black hoodie with light colored pants getting attacked? He looked more like the aggressor to me.

the footage won't provide the whole context, to me they were both going at it and one of them happened to be part of a group. We'll never know if that group would have jumped on that guy together, hadn't it been for that woman. I have no sympathy for either of those fellas, and I would probably have let them beat the crap out of each other, but still I commend her for doing so, it did actually achieve something (including - apparently- being able to handle the group after coming after them down the street).

The two kids were fighting but it looked to me like they were there together as a group. They all walked off together and said goodbye afterwards. I guess I'm sort of missing the point.

I thought so too at first, but it isn't the case. The guy who was taken away by the woman had a black hoody and light colored pants, the 'hoody' in the group saying goodbye had jeans.

Dutch woman are way scarier than Dutch men (and I play rugby with the latter...)

+1 for being a good citizen :)

scarier...? Surely you must mean 'more forceful' or 'pro-active' or 'impressive', right? ;)

ja natuurlijk!

:)