Justice minister Sander Dekker plans to amend the law covering violence against emergency service workers to make sure that simply threatening to attack an official  results in jail time rather than community service.

The measure, proposed by MPs from the anti-immigration PVV and the ruling VVD and CDA, would expand the list of crimes which cannot be punished by a fine or community service to include all attacks on the police, firemen and ambulance workers, even if no-one is injured.

‘This sort of violence has a lot of impact on the victim, his surroundings and colleagues, and thereby reaches society at large,’ Dekker said. ‘It also shows a lack of respect for the work that these people do, often in difficult circumstances.’

Ultimately, it will be up to judges to decide on the appropriate punishment, Dekker said.

They will still be able to sentence people who attack the police to community service sentences alongside a term in prison.