The police in the Dutch city of The Hague said three young people were injured in a “stabbing incident” on Friday evening on Grote Markt Street, a central thoroughfare teeming with Black Friday shoppers.

The deputy mayor, Boudewijn Revis, described the victims as children and called the episode “a terrible thing to happen on a night on which so many people are shopping in one of our busiest streets.” The victims were treated at hospitals and released, the police said.

The police said late Friday that they were still searching for a suspect and investigating a potential motive. The Dutch newspaper AD said that investigators had found a knife in the area.

Photos posted on social media showed the neighborhood cordoned off on Friday night with helicopters circling above and emergency vehicles stationed all about.