465 explosive attacks on Dutch homes, businesses this year; Double compared to 2022
So far this year, 465 explosive attacks have been committed on homes and businesses in the Netherlands, EenVandaag reports based on new police figures. That is already double compared to last year when 227 such attacks were committed, and the year still has over two months to go.
The latest explosive attack happened at a home on Oude Hoogstraat in Amsterdam’s Red Light District on Monday evening. Someone threw an explosive through the letterbox of the home at around 7:45 p.m. A “life-threatening action,” a police spokesperson told AT5. “Fortunately, there were no injuries, but that is a miracle. The street is right in the city center, and there were a lot of people walking around at the time.”
The attacks are carried out with illegal fireworks, like cobras. These fireworks, referred to as “flashbangers” by the police, are made with flash powder that burns many times faster than gunpowder and, therefore, causes a bigger explosion. Flashbangers are illegal in the Netherlands but not everywhere in Europe. They’re legally produced in the Di Blasio Elio fireworks factory in Italy, according to EenVandaag.
The Dutch authorities want a Europe-wide ban on flashbangers. “There is no professional market for these fireworks, these explosives,” Erik Kooijker, fireworks expert at the police, told EenVandaag. “This factory produces fireworks explosives for an illegal target group. We, therefore, propose a ban.” According to the program, the fireworks in question are easily and cheaply come by on Telegram groups.
Kooijker asked Dutch politicians to advocate for such a ban in a European context. “Most fireworks explosives come from legal factories,” he stressed. “The moment we stop producing legal explosives for which there is no market at all, except for illegal ones, we will take a lot of product out of the market.”
Katelijne den Hartog of the Public Prosecution Service (OM) agreed it would be “excellent” if Europe banned the production of these fireworks. “These are extremely powerful explosives. We want to prevent them from being used within our country.”
