The New Year festivities in the Netherlands have left two people dead, dozens with serious injuries and destroyed Amsterdam’s historic Vondelkerk church.

Dozens of homes had to be evacuated because of the blaze, which send showers of cinders on to nearby properties. Others were left without power to allow fire officers to tackle the fire in the listed building, which is now used as a cultural centre.

Rotterdam’s specialist eye hospital reports an particularly large number of young patients this year with one doctor saying 85% of the patients were minors. Most were watching fireworks when they were injured.

In Nijmegen, a 17-year-old youngster was killed in an incident involving fireworks shortly after midnight but the police have yet to released further details. And in Aalsmeer, a 38-year-old man was killed in a firework accident which is also still being investigated.

A dead man was also found on a Rotterdam street shortly before 4 am. The road was closed for a time while police investigated the circumstances of his death and they now say he may have been run over.

A 32-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman from Germany were arrested at a party centre in Beverwijk for firing guns into the air shortly after midnight. Other partygoers alerted the police.

Riot police were called out to deal with gangs of youngsters in several places and police union chief Nine Kooiman said an “unprecedented amount of violence” had been directed at emergency service workers.

In Amersfoort the police were pelted with fireworks when they wanted to prevent a pile of Christmas trees being set on fire. In Breda several cars were set on fire by youths who threw fireworks and paving stones at police.

There were also confrontations between the police and youngsters in several places in The Hague and Roosendaal and a number were arrested. There were also clashes in the Amsterdam district of Floradorp where locals are unhappy that their traditional Christmas tree bonfire has been banned.

Some 20 council areas, including Amsterdam and Zwolle, had banned consumer fireworks ahead of the nationwide ban set to come into effect this year but it was widely ignored.

More to follow