Dutch police arrested about 250 people during what officers described as a violent New Year's Eve, marked by mass riots, targeted attacks on emergency workers, and a sharp increase in the number of fires and emergency calls. This was reported by Dutch News, informs UNN.
Details
The publication indicates that at least two people died, and others, including many children, suffered serious injuries in fireworks-related incidents, in the last year before the ban on the sale of all but the lightest fireworks to consumers.
Almost all available police forces in the Netherlands were on duty. This was truly a maximum deployment of forces that lasted most of the night. The impact of powerful fireworks was "absolutely devastating" in some places, and police officers "saw and experienced terrible things."
It is indicated that shortly after midnight, the emergency number 112 was briefly overloaded, mainly due to a large number of fire reports. Among the largest were fires that destroyed the Vondelkerk church in Amsterdam, a sports hall in Bedum, and a mattress store in Hillegom.
Dutch Justice Minister Foort van Oosten stated that police, firefighters, and other emergency workers faced deliberate aggression across the country, calling these attacks "unacceptable."
In Amsterdam alone, police arrested 52 people for various offenses. Ambulances responded 275 times, and the fire department more than three hundred times, a sharp increase compared to last year.
Recall
On the night of January 1, a large fire broke out in the 150-year-old Vondelkerk church in Amsterdam. The fire, which started on the roof, quickly engulfed the entire building.
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