Overview
- Emergency services reported an exceptionally busy night, with Rotterdam-Rijnmond logging nearly 1,700 calls, about 60 percent more than last year, and an NL-Alert urging 112 use only for life-threatening cases.
- Police and firefighters were repeatedly attacked with heavy fireworks, bricks and Molotov cocktails, prompting ME deployments in multiple places and temporary withdrawals to work safely.
- Utrecht police described “extreme violence” in Overvecht and Kanaleneiland and made about 80 arrests, using a water cannon before detaining suspects once conditions allowed.
- Major fires struck several locations, including a near-total loss of Amsterdam’s Vondelkerk and a large blaze in Hillegom, with causes under investigation and some incidents suspected to involve fireworks.
- Two people died in fireworks incidents in Nijmegen and Aalsmeer, and regional tallies cited more than 1,200 emergency responses and at least 76 fireworks-related hospitalizations, including many minors.