NOS
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 18:28
Police and municipalities are preparing for New Year’s Eve with various measures. There is extra supervision of fireworks nuisance in several places and potential rioters have been warned to behave in several municipalities.
The police have been preparing for weeks, says Peije de Meij, national New Year’s coordinator. “We try to speak in advance to groups and individuals who might be planning something. We have the feeling that people hold back a bit once they have been removed from anonymity.”
The police are currently conducting surveillance at risk locations as much as possible. “We also contact our contacts in the neighborhoods, such as neighborhood fathers. In this way we try to get a grip on the New Year’s Eve.”
Ambush
Although New Year’s Eve is festive in most places in the Netherlands, there are always incidents. The Hoeksche Waard is one of the places where there has been unrest in recent years and where a lot of destruction was caused with fireworks. In ‘s-Gravendeel, things even got extremely out of hand last New Year, when the police were ambushed.
A group of about thirty people surrounded two police officers, pelted them with heavy fireworks and threatened them with sticks. Crow’s feet were strewn on the road so that the officers would puncture their tires.
The Mobile Unit had to be called in to drive out the rioters. Later it turned out that a large number of Feyenoord hooligans were involved. Several people were convicted for the violence, both from the village itself and from outside.
“I have imposed an area ban on all those involved for the coming New Year,” says Mayor Erik van Heijningen. The police also visited here for a personal, warning conversation. “I have good hope that they will now have a fun party,” said the mayor.
Letters
In other villages in the Hoeksche Waard, such as Nieuw-Beijerland, the municipality has also taken measures after previous incidents. Dozens of people have received a letter asking them to keep it fun during New Year’s Eve and not to throw fireworks. Parents are asked to keep an eye on their children.
Other municipalities have also sent such letters. Such as Culemborg, where the riot police intervened last New Year’s Eve when the fire brigade was pelted with heavy fireworks. More than thirty young people held responsible for fireworks nuisance have been warned by the municipality that they must behave themselves.
Camera surveillance
In many municipalities there is extra supervision on the streets in the run-up to the New Year. Boas enforce the early lighting of fireworks, youth workers make contact with youth groups to prevent nuisance as much as possible.
Additional cameras have been placed in several places. In Ede, for example, there has been camera surveillance in the Veldhuizen district since mid-December, where there have been several unrests in the past. Neighborhood fathers also keep an eye on things here.
Just like last year, ‘stewards’ cycle around in Staphorst and Rouveen during New Year’s Eve. They also talk to young people to prevent nuisance.
Patchwork
There are also municipalities that explain the Dutch fireworks tradition to war refugees. The Hague has one, for example video posted online explaining to Ukrainians what things are like in the Netherlands during New Year’s Eve.
Sixteen municipalities no longer allow the lighting of fireworks. Other municipalities have fireworks-free zones, for example around nursing homes. Although there is little enthusiasm for this in national politics, the police continue to hope for a complete ban on fireworks in the Netherlands.
“It is good that municipalities are doing something to keep the situation manageable, but it also leads to a patchwork of places where something is or is not allowed,” says Peije de Meij of the police. “That is quite confusing for citizens and difficult for the police to enforce.”
2023-12-28 17:28:35
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