A 54-year-old cyclist has been treated in hospital for stab wounds after a verbal row with a scooter rider in Amsterdam turned violent.

Witnesses told the Telegraaf that the argument broke out in Dam Square between the scooter rider and a cyclist who was blocking his way at a red light. Seconds later he parked his scooter on its stand and began verbally abusing a woman transporting her three small children on a cargo bike.

The woman’s 54-year-old husband asked the rider to moderate his language, at which point the rider pulled a knife and stabbed him in the back, the Parool reported.

The rider, described as a man aged between 20 and 35, around 1.75m with light brown skin, rode off on the scooter towards Spuistraat. The victim was treated in hospital before being released.

‘We were trying to calm the scooter rider and tell him to go easy. His response was to start swearing at us,’ the woman, who was not named by the newspaper, said.

She described how the man took a knife out of his back pocket and launched an attack. ‘He lunged at my husband’s neck and began stabbing him in the back.

‘My man was very lucky. A few centimetres the other way and he would have been crippled.’

Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident, which happened at around 6pm on Dam Square, to call them on 0900 8844.

Getuigenoproep steekincident op de Dam:https://t.co/HwqIlI5ijq — Politie Amsterdam eo (@Politie_Adam) October 28, 2019