The three-day firework-selling season only opens on Monday but an unofficial hotline has already received over 17,000 complaints.

Most complaints about fireworks being set off outside the official period have been made in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague as well as southern parts of Limburg and the east of the country.

The hotline was set up by 25 local GroenLinks political party branches. Last year, the hotline generated almost 90,000 complaints.

Firework sales to the public in the Netherlands are strictly controlled and may only take place three days before January 1. Fireworks may only be set off between 18.00 hours on December 31 and 02.00 on January 1.

The national pyrotechnic association expects firework sales to remain the same this year as in previous years.

However, the new rules do appear to be having an impact on what people are buying, a spokesman told broadcaster Nos. In particular, sales of sparklers and small firecrackers, which can be sold throughout the year, picked up at the beginning of this month, the spokesman said.

Violence

Meanwhile Hilversum mayor Pieter Broertjes has described the violence which erupts every New Year as ‘shocking’.

‘Before I became mayor I had no idea how much violence there is,’ Broertjes told RTL news.

His efforts to ban fireworks from the centre of the town were thwarted in court earlier this month because of a procedural error.

Every year hundreds of people are arrested during the New Year celebrations and millions of euros worth of damage is caused to public and private property.

Some 30 towns and cities have imposed firework-free zones this year, mainly around shopping centres, nursing homes and places with many animals.