Relatively quiet King’s Night as wind chill dipped below freezing

Bad weather in the Netherlands resulted in King's Night being quieter on Tuesday than in other years. Events and parties across the country attracted fewer visitors than usual. In Amsterdam the lack of revelers could be noticed in both the streets and in the canals. Traditionally busy places were much less crowded than in previous years. And where people could be seen, they were huddling together under tents. "Never seen the canal so quiet. Windchill -1. A pity", the National Infrastructure Service, the former water police, posted on Twitter. The Life I Live festival in The Hague attracted an estimated 125 thousand visitors, a spokesperson for the organizers said to NU.nl. Last year some 200 thousand people attended the free party. "The weather obviously has an influence but the atmosphere is good. If you come to town in this cold, you feel like a party. In that sense it had a filtering effect", the spokesperson said. The 24 hour flea market in Utrecht was also noticeably quieter last night than in other years. Though many people decided to brave the bad weather and visited the market during the course of the night. Revelers in Nijmegen had their party cut short by a police evacuation on Molenstraat around 2:00 a.m. The police decided to evacuate several cafes as well as part of the street after four people were injured in a stabbing. Event organizers took measures against the cold for events scheduled on King's Day. Several events were moved indoors and the Kingsland party in Amsterdam is handing out ponchos. The Royal family is celebrating the day in Zwolle.