If it is up to the police, enforcement officers will not be armed. The police want to cooperate more and better with enforcement officers, but "the monopoly on using force, that remains with the police as far as the police are concerned", National Police Chief Erik Akerboom wrote in a letter to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, RTL Nieuws reports.
pepper spray
Pepper spray was released at four Amsterdam Dance Event parties over the weekend. Multiple attendees had to be treated for burning eyes and breathing problems, though no one had to go to hospital. Despite these incidents, the city of Amsterdam speaks of a "calm" 23rd edition of the dance festival.
A 22-year-old man from Oosterhout was arrested in a Breda home on Saturday after at least 27 people fell ill in a bar on Vismarktstraat during the early hours of that morning, the police said in a statement. The police believe the suspect released pepper spray or something similar in the bar.
At around 2:55 a.m. on Saturday surveillance officers keeping an eye on the nightlife received a report that an unknown substance was released in the bar on Vismakrtstraat. Many visitors experienced nausea, breathlessness and a burning sensation in their throat or airways.
The police and activists clashed during a protest against gas extraction in Farmsum, Groningen on Tuesday. The activists are blocking access to a NAM site in the town. Police kept them away from the fence with batons and pepper spray, RTL Nieuws reports.
Saturday night was a "grim night" in Rotterdam, the Rotterdam police said on Twitter. A total of 12 people were arrested for various offenses on Saturday night and during the early hours of Sunday morning.
Arrests were made for public intoxication, vandalism and assault, among other things.
"Three people were so annoying" that police officers had to use pepper spray on them to get them under control.
The police broke up a student protest at the University of Amsterdam on Friday night. According to the students, the police used batons, pepper spray and police dogs on them and several students sustained injuries. GroenLinks parliamentarian Zihni Ozdil wants an explanation from Education Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven, Het Parool reports.
A man with a knife snuck into care center De Hazelaar on Doctor Eijgenraamstraat in Tilburg and threatened the staff on Sunday night. He was overpowered by the police and arrested, Brabants Dagblad reports.
The care center staff pressed the fire alarm when they saw the man. One witness told the newspaper that he had a "very large knife".
The police overpowered the man with the help of a police dog and pepper spray.
The employees of De Hazelaar are shaken up, but unharmed, according to the newspaper. Victim support was offered to them.
Three police officers were attacked by a group of at least 20 people in Geldrop on Tuesday afternoon. They felt so threatened that the pulled their firearms to keep the mob at a distance. Four people were arrested, Omroep Brabant reports.
The three cops were writing a ticket on Bogardeind around 3:00 p.m. on Thursday. The man who was getting the fine got into an argument with the police. When they tried to arrest him, the man's friends stormed out of nearby hotel restaurant De Brabantse Boerin, where they were gathered.
A 30-year-old man from Velsen-Noord is being charged with attempted manslaughter after he tried to strangle a police officer who was trying to arrest him at Carnival in Roosendaal on Sunday morning.
Around 00:30 a.m. on Sunday two police officers on Markt in Roosendaal noticed the man bothering some young women at an outdoor bar in front of a cafe, the police said in a statement. He hit and kicked the table they were sitting at.
The police arrested a total of 148 suspects in a so-called 'civilian action' in Amsterdam's Red Light District over the weekend. Arrests were made for public drug use, possession of hard drugs, drug dealing, mugging and pickpocketing, AT5 reports.
A massive 72 of the arrests were drug related. 15 people were arrested for begging, and 18 for disrupting public order. Two muggers and two pickpockets were arrested. And another man was taken to the police station for carrying pepper spray.
A police officer fired a warning shot in Nieuwegein on Monday evening while arresting a half-naked, aggressive man with a knife, the Utrecht police said on Twitter.
Witnesses reported to the police seeing the man walking around on Nedereindseweg, which runs parallel to the A2 highway, NOS reports. The man had no shirt on and was walking with knife in hand.
When police officers arrived at the scene, the man turned on them and tried to attack. The cops were able to overpower him using a warning shot, pepper spray and the police dog.
A 52-year-old man from IJmuiden was stabbed to death at a company in the city on Sunday morning A 55-year-old man was arrested as suspect later on Sunday, after being shot in the leg by the police.
The suspect fled the scene of the stabbing on Ruyterstraat in the Zeeheldenbuurt, the police said in a statement. The police released his description - blood covered man around the age of 30 carrying a shopping bag - on Burgernet. The man was spotted in Driehuis later that afternoon.
On Saturday the police searched several locations in Limburg in a large investigation into the laundering of dirty money from motorcycle gang Satudarah. One of these locations was a sauna club in Roermond. So far no arrests were made, the police said on Sunday.
The Hague department of the National Police finished the investigation into five officers involved in the fatal arrest of Mitch Henriquez in Zuiderpark last year. The investigators concluded that four are guilty of serious dereliction of duty, the fifth of dereliction of duty
A 30-year-old disturbed man died while being arrested on Berkenstraat in Goes on Saturday. The police used pepper spray to get him under control. An investigation into the cause of his death was launched.
Police in the Netherlands used force over 10 thousand times last year, about the same number as in the previous few years, according to figures the police released on Monday
Six people were arrested on their way to the high security court in Amsterdam, where a pre-trial hearing in the hate speech trial against PVV leader Geert Wilders is underway. Knives and pepper spray were found in their possession
A man stabbed two women in Utrecht on Sunday night and then tried to commit suicide by stabbing himself and jumping off the Koppel bridge over the A12, according to the police.
In response to the mass sexual assaults in Cologne over New Year's, the PVV plans to hand out "resistance spray" to women so that they can protect themselves from attacks by "Islamic testosterone bombs". The spray contains a dye that will stain an attacker's skin and clothing. It is a legal alternative to banned pepper spray, ANP reports.
The police found more than 30 weapons in an Amsterdam home on Saturday after arresting two Amsterdam residents during a traffic check, the police announced on Wednesday.
The NS staff will not be armed armed with pepper spray and batons. Minister Ard van der Steur of Security and Justice announced this decision in a letter to the Tweede Kamer, lower house of parliament, on Wednesday, NRC reports.
The police arrested a 44 year old man in Alkmaar on Sunday morning on suspicion of breaking into a shed on Herenweg. The suspect vehemently resisted arrest and managed to fight of three cops before finally being arrested.
According to State Secretary Wilma Mansveld, arming NS security guards with pepper spray and batons is a "difficult step". Union FNV Spoor has been advocating arming NS security guards as a result of the recent series of violent attacks against conductors.
Another NS conductor was attacked on Saturday morning in the train from Utrecht to Amsterdam at Abcoude station. The Ministry of Security and Justice is considering arming NS guards with pepper spray and batons.
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