Two soldiers held in bartender beating

Two members of the Dutch military were arrested after assaulting a Groningen bartender early Thursday morning.  "They behaved annoying and were noisy," a police report said, and the two men were asked to leave a bar on the popular Poelestraat by a 29-year-old bartender. The military men responded by striking the bar employer repeatedly in the face, police said. Police arrived on the scene shortly after the attack and took into custody the two assailants, a 31-year-old man from Rotterdam and a 26-year-old man from Assen. Police in Groningen processed the men and handed them over to the Royal Marechaussee, the military police branch of the armed forces. The two suspects now face both a civil hearing and criminal charges, and will likely face a disciplinary hearing, the AD reported.