Stabbings in Rotterdam, emergency workers pelted and riot police deployed

Four people were injured in two connected Rotterdam-Zuid stabbings that took place during the New Year’s period. Police arrested a 41-year-old man for involvement in one of the stabbings. As in other cities, the riot police units were dispatched several times in Rotterdam, and emergency workers were pelted with fireworks, a police spokesperson said.

The first of the two stabbings left a woman seriously injured in an incident at a home on Walravenstraat in Rotterdam-Zuid at about midnight. According to local media, the woman also fell out of a window, though it was not clear if she was thrown out the window by another individual. Police could not confirm what happened, but said she was resuscitated and taken to a hospital. She was being treated for her injuries on Monday.

About 20 minutes later, police received a report of a second stabbing from a home on Seringenstraat, not far away. Three injured men were found in the home, including two with more severe wounds. A 35-year-old man with multiple stab wounds was still in a hospital on Monday afternoon. A 26-year-old was treated at the scene.

The 41-year-old suspect was the other person seriously wounded at the Seringenstraat residence. He was released from medical care and kept in police custody.

He is suspected of involvement in at least the Walravenstraat assault. “After the incident on Walravenstraat, he probably went to Seringenstraat, where an argument then broke out in the home,” police said. Investigators were looking for witnesses and any available camera footage from the areas around both incidents, which lie in the city’s Feijenoord district.

Taser, police dog used during arrest of two brawling suspects

Police officers, including tactical riot police squads, responded to multiple incidents in Rotterdam on New Year’s Eve and early on New Year’s Day. The emergency services also responded to several fires.

There was a fight on Troubadourlaan in Hoogvliet at about 1 a.m. Two people were injured and taken to hospital. Two people were also arrested. Police used an electric shock weapon on one, and a police dog bit the other.

There was also a stabbing incident on the Van Speykstraat in the city center. Someone there suffered minor injuries, and the same was the case on the Boerhaaveplein in Schiedam.

Cars also went up in flames in Vlaardingen, Schiedam and Barendrecht, among other locations.