Police sent 156 cases of New Year's violence to prosecutors last week

This year the police handed over 156 suspects who were arrested around the turn of the New Year, to the Public Prosecution Service (OM). A year earlier, the police submitted 161 cases to the OM, according to a letter sent to Parliament from caretaker Justice and Security Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz and Infrastructure State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen.

"Violence against people remains the most common crime," the outgoing ministers wrote.

A total of 50 people suspected of violence against others were handed over to the Public Prosecution Service. This is a decrease of 27 percent compared to last year. There was a smaller 7 percent decrease in the number of suspects of violence against people in public positions, including first responders. This involved 54 suspects during the recent New Year's period.

Some 295 police officers and other people with public jobs were victims of physical or verbal violence. "The increasingly large-scale deployment of police officers and people with a public task in a number of major incidents may explain the significant increase," Yeşilgöz and Heijnen wrote. The figures were collected from the start of December 31 towards the end of the following morning.

The ministers called the "significant increase in violence against physical objects" striking. That number increased from 23 last year to 36 this New Year. The other sixteen cases that were transferred to the Public Prosecution Service involved, among other things, the possession of illegal fireworks. "In general, there is a downward trend," the ministers claimed.

In most cases, the Public Prosecution Service is now conducting investigations in order to prosecute the arrested suspects.

The chief of the National Police, Henk van Essen, said enough is enough. The police are calling for a national fireworks ban. “Indignation is nice, but action is better,” said Van Essen. "If we ban all fireworks, it will at least be safer for us."

Although the number of registered incidents during New Year's fell by 29.2 percent, the number of arrests increased by 1.4 percent. Around the turn of the New Year, 287 people were arrested, according to the letter to Parliament.