violence

Around 62 percent of doctors' assistants were faced with violence over the past two years, the Dutch association for doctors' assistants NVDA reports based on a survey among nearly a thousand members. Incidents included spitting, hitting, kicking, vandalism and even threats with an ax, knife or firearm, ANP reports.

Over a quarter of assistants reported experiencing such incidents more than four times per year. In some cases, the police had to be called in. 44 percent indicate that the violence is increasing.

Mayor Wobine Buijs of Oss declared part of the Schadewijk neighborhood as a "security risk area", following a series of incidents. This means that the police can stop people and search them and their bags and cars as a precautionary measure, Omroep Brabant reports.

Right-wing extremists in the Netherlands are increasingly vocal about encouraging and glorifying violence against Muslims and the government in particular, intelligence service AIVD said in a new publication. While this group seldom resorts to physical violence, the AIVD is concerned about the climate arising in the Netherlands, NU.nl reports. 

An increasing number of people who use public transit in the Netherlands are faced with violence like threats, assault, intimidation or robbery, according to a survey by CROW among 87 thousand public transit passengers, the Telegraaf reports.

In 2017 the number of such incidents on public transport increased slightly for the first time in five years. Last year 15.5 percent of passengers reported facing violence or aggression, compared to 13.5 percent in 2016. CROW could not give a definite explanation for the increase. 

The number of people suspected of violence against people with a public duty, like police officers, firefighters and paramedics, increased by nearly 20 percent last year. In 2017 a total of 8,964 people were suspected of verbally or physically attacking an emergency worker, compared to 7,502 the year before, NOS reports.

The Public Prosecutor launched an investigation into Dutch soldier Marco Kroon using violence during a secret operation in Afghanistan in 2007, Kroon's lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops announced on Wednesday. Kroon was awarded the Militaire Willems-Orde, the highest military award in the Netherlands, in 2009 for his efforts in Afghanistan, newspaper AD reports. 

Kroon says he reported the incident to Defense last year. Defense gave it through to the Public Prosecutor last week, which now launched an investigation.

A Norwegian couple accused of causing trouble on a KLM flight from Amsterdam to Panama were arrested when the plane landed to Panama, and returned to the Netherlands under police escort. The flight crew said the woman punched the purser, tried to kick her in the face, yank her hair, and spat at the co-pilot.

While the man was freed for insufficient evidence in a Tuesday arraignment hearing, the woman was remanded into custody at least until the next court status hearing on January 18.

Violence against psychiatry staff often ends up unpunished, and employees also rarely press charges after being attacked by a patient, according to a study by the Vrije Universiteit. "In practice, the patient has license to use violence against staff", researcher Joke Harte said to the Volkskrant.

Annually between 30 and 40 percent of employees in psychiatric institutions are victims of physical violence from patients, according to the study. According to Harte, this goes further than employees getting a few punches when they have to transfer patients to separate rooms.

A man was found dead on the driveway of a home in the Noord-Brabant village of Chaam on Wednesday morning. According to the police, the victim was "killed by violence". Five men were arrested soon after the body was discovered. A woman was also registered as a suspect, but not arrested, Omroep Brabant reports.

From today Amsterdam police officers will be equipped with bodycams in a test run that will last two years. Every police officer in the so-called base teams will be allowed to wear a bodycam during his or her shift. The intention is to see if bodycams reduce the number of violent incidents, but many are concerned about the privacy implications, RTL Nieuws reports.

Previous bodycam studies showed that people who know they are being recorded, are less likely to use violence. This test in the Amsterdam police is intended to see whether this really is the case.

The number of reports of physical violence in Dutch schools increased from 426 to 569 in the 2015/16 school year, according to a report from the Education Inspectorate. The complaints about discrimination on the grounds of race or religion decreased by around 40 percent to 28 complaints. The total number of reports decreased slightly, from 2,000 to 1,962, the Telegraaf reports.