Prime minister Mark Rutte has called on people celebrating the New Year to respect emergency service workers and to allow them to do their jobs in safety.

In an interview with the Telegraaf, Rutte said he had a great deal of admiration for police, firemen and ambulance staff during the festivities. ‘It is unacceptable that some idiots stop them from doing their job safely,’ the prime minister said.

The prime minister’s comments come after a spate of incidents over the weekend, in which emergency service staff were attacked. On Saturday night, a fire engine was pelted with fireworks and a police car window was smashed with a bottle during trouble in Utrecht.

In Groningen some 15 people were arrested after trouble in the Paddepoel district in which police offices and police dogs were attacked with fireworks and bottles.

The mayors of both Utrecht and Groningen, as well as MPs and police officials, have called on the authorities to come down hard on trouble makers.

Car fires

There were also a number of car fires on Sunday night – including at least four different locations in Noord-Brabant province and two in Amsterdam Noord.

Every year, hundreds of cars are set on fire during the New Year festivities themselves, and the practice is considered a ‘tradition’ in Brabant and Utrecht, broadcaster NOS said.

Nevertheless, research by data analysis group LocalFocus says the number of incidents during the New Year celebrations has gone down in recent years.

During the 2013-14 New Year, 12,618 separate incidents were registered with the police, but in the 2017-18 celebrations that had fallen to 8,000. This is partly due to efforts to clamp down on illegal fireworks and introduce more firework free zones, LocalFocus said.