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At least two teens killed, hundreds arrested in New Year festivitiesSaturday 01 January 2011 At least two people were killed and several seriously injured in various incidents during the New Year festivities, while hundreds of people were arrested for public order offences and attacking emergency service workers. A 13-year-old boy died in hospital after being hit by illegal fireworks on a campsite in Harderwijk, news agency ANP said. And a 17-year-old youth died of head injuries after setting off a home made firework bomb in a rural part of Groningen. In The Hague, youths set some 40 cars on fire, double last year’s total. Two police officers were treated in hospital after they were attacked by youths with fireworks. Over 70 people were arrested during the night for vandalism, arson and public order offences. Mayor Jozias van Aartsen said the trouble was confined to a few areas and in other parts of the city with a history of New Year trouble, there were no incidents. In Rotterdam riot police were on standby but did not have to act, Nos tv said. However, at least 100 people were arrested in what the region's police said was a 'busy but manageable' night Amsterdam A similar number of people were arrested in Amsterdam, mainly for public disorder offences. An open-air concert on the Museumplein attended by some 25,000 people passed off without serious incident, ANP said. In Limburg, police were called out to deal with incidents in Maastricht, Heerlen and Hoensbroek, mainly involving drunken youths. Fires Amsterdam fire officers were called out to deal with almost 200 fires in underground waste paper bins, many more than in previous years, ANP said. In Rotterdam, a bakery burnt down and 12 homes were evacuated. In Friesland a farm was destroyed by fire and dozens of cows killed. There was little problem on the roads, despite the mist and fog, which was very thick in some places in Zeeland, Brabant and Utrecht, ANP reported. The Telegraaf reports a 22-year-old man was arrested in Bergen op Zoom with nine times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood. © DutchNews.nl
Might I offer an suggestion?? The only way to stay this kind of violence is to give the guilty ones a heafty jail time..like 40 years at hard labor. This would certainly make any others who wanted to do this think about what they are doing. Any thing else is only a slap on the wrist. By howard de barfield | January 1, 2011 7:42 PM If this is peaceful I hate to think what an out of control New Years Celebration would be like. Saying that there wasn't much difference with last years New years celebrations in the Netherlands. By Tom | January 1, 2011 10:07 PM How did it come to be like this? Why is it still tolerated year after year? Why do parents think it is acceptable for kids in their early teens to stand on street corners By Brit Abroad | January 2, 2011 4:37 PM wow, serious. this is kind of crazy, no???? my comment is: looking the other way or queuing for Donnar kebab probably.... really the do very little visible stuff on the streets in the center of town, unless it's to fine people for not having lights when they need to get their quota up. By mandy | January 2, 2011 10:56 PM this is why fireworks should be illegal, period. only public displays should be done by trained professionals, cheaper, and safer for all. By sarah | January 3, 2011 11:03 AM Are all these posts from Brits by any chance? This is how other people in the world do things - not by controlling behaviour like they do in the UK. I left the UK to live in a less controlled environment; stop trying to change everywhere else into that awful nanny state we still have. Bet you all rail at 'PC gone mad' though! By AnotherBritAbroad | January 3, 2011 11:49 AM Fireworks are great twice maybe three times maximum throughout your whole life,then they're just boring. How can they get excited year after year about loud bangs and a few bright colours? Biffs. By Jimmy | January 3, 2011 11:49 AM I came to Canada from Holland many years ago as a child but have always been very interested in the place where I was born. Holland is still a wonderful place to me but I find that like Canada, the NL is losing it's grip. By nikki | January 3, 2011 12:05 PM The run up to NYE in Nederlands is like living in a war zone. A complete and utter nightmare, kids lighting fireworks and throwing them everwhere. By suzan | January 3, 2011 12:50 PM For 9 years I have put up with this moronic behaviour! Each year I lock the mailbox and make sure the cats are in for the night. Then we are left with all the liter everyone. No one gives a rats a%# for nothing in the country! By TomKat | January 3, 2011 1:33 PM I thought the people in this country have some brains....but after seeing there behaviour on the new years eve, I understood that I was wrong !!! By PJK | January 3, 2011 3:47 PM In the city I lived in within Los Angeles County, fireworks were legal to sell and so we modified those and along with the illegal Chinese stuff definitely did some noise terrorism and killed some poor snails. So, I don't blame kids for wanting to go crazy unless I have something better to offer them (OK, we also stole hundreds of rolls of toilet paper and "teepeed" the trees in our community. Hmm...) Perhaps one or more towns in the Netherlands can take inspiration from the Austrian town of Enns (near Linz) which has a fireworks free New Year's Eve. I only have a link to an article in Czech about it: http://m.lidovky.cz/clanek.A101230_000007_ln_noviny_sko.iln By Todd Edelman | January 3, 2011 4:04 PM Come on, once a year the namby pambies can board yourselves up at home if they're so frightened of some ten-cent firecrackers. It's not like the stores weren't open up to the last second every possible minute of the live-long shopping day. The red paper the next bit is nicer than the usual slush, ice and snow that covers the streets any time the temperature goes below zero. Indeed, the spirit of fireworks for the majority is well worth one nights disruption of someones head-down mentality. By Nal Bocks | January 3, 2011 11:38 PM Why not have a city fireworks display like in so many other cities and BAN these insane firecrackers. No longer a place for families to enjoy any more- however a few more people need to be killed or maimed before the city authorities will do anything about this. By Nicolas | January 4, 2011 8:26 PM The police I think are suffering such bad cut backs that they are just under staffed and don't have the resources to police effectively now. The blame has to lay squarely on Government, they make the rules and have ultimate powers to change them, place funding in the places most needed such as police and high time they stopped wasting money on crazy projects and in-house projects. By Andy | January 5, 2011 6:56 AM
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I left the UK to escape such thuggish and moronic behaviour. Last night I was jostled by Morrocan youths spoiling for a fight and then a white youth aimed a firework at me which struck my leg. It´s the same for any big occasion these days. I have every intention of ´getting the hell out of dodge´ for Queens day this year. It is no longer a festival of fun, but rather an excuse for fools who can´t handle their beer to spoil everyone else´s fun. Happy new year!
By Deep Throat | January 1, 2011 4:04 PM