Fireworks complaints top 15,000 in just 48 hours

The hotline for fireworks complaints registered more than 15 thousand reports in 48 hours. By 11:00 a.m. on Monday morning 16,031 complaints were registered.

The hotline vuurwerkoverlast.nl is the initiative of 30 local GroenLinks factions. They plan to turn the complaints into a report and hand it to the Tweede Kamer, lower house of parliament, to demonstrate the nature and size of the fireworks problem.

According to the Rotterdam GroenLinks council Member Arno Bonte, the number of complaints is far higher than a year ago, NU reports. Most of the complaints came from Rotterdam and The Hague, but there were also a relatively large number of complaints from smaller municipalities. Most of the complaints regarded large firework bombs that scared pets and kept people awake at night.

Bonte wants the police to mobilize more capacity during New Year's to tackle problems caused by fireworks. He advises that people always report fireworks vandalism or dangerous situation caused by fireworks to the police.