Dutch police, firefighters repeatedly assaulted during turbulent New Year’s

Violence against first responders who were dispatched to handle incidents at the turn of the new year. Several police officers and firefighters were pelted with fireworks, causing injury in some instances, police said. More than ten officers were injured in The Hague alone.

The incidents often involved very powerful fireworks, police said. “The fireworks tradition has become one in which colleagues suffer permanent hearing damage and other injuries every year. I'm angry about that. As a society, we need to think about better ways to ring in the new year,” said Police Chief Henk van Essen in a statement.

Police and firefighters were assaulted in at least eight different municipalities. Several different incidents involving the division of the police in The Hague led to more than ten officers being hurt. “Some of them had to be taken to hospital for medical treatment,” police said.

Aside from dozens of arrests in the three largest cities of the country, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, there were several cases of violence and public disturbance in other municipalities. These were mainly individual incidents, police said. However, there were no “mass public disturbances.” Prosecutors can seek punishments that are three times as severe in cases of assault against first responders and other civil servants during performance of their jobs

The police department said two officers in Helmond were hospitalized after being assaulted with fireworks there, including one with hearing damage. The incident happened when they arrived at the train station there late Saturday afternoon after a group of young people were accused of causing a disturbance there. A police car was also destroyed in the city. At least 11 people were arrested in Helmond and the rest of the eastern portion of Noord-Brabant.

One officer addressing a group of young people on Helsingborg in Schiedam was hurt after fireworks were shot at him from a home. He was hospitalized with hearing damage and burn wounds on his neck. One 17-year-old boy was arrested around 7 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.

A group of about 20 young people also threw fireworks at firefighters while they tried extinguishing a car fire on Nijenhuis in Zeist. The firefighters retreated after the 1:15 a.m. incident on Sunday, and the car was destroyed as a result. There were no arrests.

A 19-year-old was also taken into custody after he was accused of throwing powerful fireworks at firefighters extinguishing a fire. The incident happened at 3:10 a.m. on New Year’s Day.

“In Geleen, the police took action against people who were throwing fireworks at a home at around 3:15 a.m. These people then turned on the officers and pelted them with fireworks,” police said. One person was arrested for assault.

A police officer was also injured in Assen when chasing after young people in the neighborhood who may have set fire to a bus shelter on Europaweg Zuid. Fireworks were thrown at her, and she suffered hearing damage as a result. Police arrested a 15-year-old in connection with the New Year’s Eve incident.

One police officer was also hurt in the province of Friesland during an attempt to arrest an assault suspect in Appelscha. The suspect resisted arrest and acted violently towards the officer, police claimed. The incident was one of at least eight arrests in the province.

“Also in Zeist, Geleen, Breda and Roosendaal, the police and fire brigade were bombarded with heavy fireworks.”