The following videos are the first three of a series of twelve reports on culture-enriching violence against the emergency services in the Netherlands. I’ll break them up into three per post.

At a rough guess, the situation in the Netherlands is about the same as it was in Sweden eight or ten years ago. Sweden, of course, has descended that much further into hell since then.

Many thanks to C for the translations, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling.

Video #1: (RTL NIEUWS) First responders are afraid to work

Video #2: Fire department Haaglanden — Violence against emergency services (2019)

Video #3: Drunk scooter driver cusses out first responders — Regio15 (Haaglanden regional news)

Video transcript #1:

00:00 First responders are afraid to go to work. 00:05 The reason: they are often confronted with violence. 00:13 This happens to 70% of first responders every year. 00:16 60% of railway personnel deal with violence as well. 00:20 And this goes for 50% of the police force. 00:24 The consequences: they are in ill health more often. They are less satisfied with their jobs. 00:30 They call in sick more often, and for longer. And this costs society €350 million per year. 00:38 By far most violence occurs during New Year’s Eve, 00:41 and often under the influence of alcohol and drugs. 00:46 Last New Year’s Eve, firemen and paramedics called on police for help 486 times 00:52 because they couldn’t do their job safely. This has been going on for years. 00:57 Sir… you have three seconds. —The government tries to stop this violence with new policies. 01:05 When violence against first responders is involved, [fines and time] are doubled. 01:10 Measures are being taken in public transport as well. Platforms are being widened. 01:13 There has to be more open space, and train stations have to be easily accessible 01:17 for first responders. And more cameras will be installed. 01:23 But it is uncertain if these measures will help. 01:27 The violence against first responders and in public transport has barely decreased.



Video transcript #2:

00:07 You don’t feel safe on a night like that. The example I can give is 00:10 we’re on the Marktweg, we get out of the vehicle, and at that moment 00:14 you see a large group and they start to throw things. Fireworks, all kinds of things. 00:18 And as commander I feel very strongly: my men should not be harmed. 00:23 We are part of society, and we serve society. 00:26 And people are simply afraid to file a complaint with police. 00:29 They’re afraid of the consequences. And I can imagine, in 2019, it is what it is, unfortunately. 00:39 The same evening we had an incident, a woman with a little baby was present at a fire. 00:44 We help her out of the house, because it’s filled with smoke. The downstairs garage is on fire. 00:50 We help an old man downstairs, and he’s standing in the street, 00:55 and some punks throw a nitrate bomb in the group. 01:02 A piece of that firework hits the old man’s hand, and he has a third degree burn now. 01:08 The little baby is crying… and where do you take these people, you can’t take them back inside. 01:18 If you hear stories from people who were putting out the fire on the roof of a house 01:22 in Scheveningen, or I should say, prevented it from catching fire. 01:26 They were pelted with fireworks from an apartment complex. 01:29 And if that isn’t a single incident, but happens several times during New Year’s Eve, 01:35 then I consider it my duty to do something about it. 01:39 Look, being cussed out doesn’t hurt, but that’s already 01:43 not how it should be, that you arrive somewhere and you get cussed out. 01:47 And… the moment that physical violence is applied as well, then a line is crossed. 01:52 And we’ve experienced this for years, but this year, in the end, 01:59 it got so bad that people said: this is the limit. 02:03 And fortunately management has agreed, and said things can’t go on like this. 02:10 I think that it’s important that, aside from we ourselves, 02:14 the rest of the world hears what our people are going through. 02:17 Working at the fire department is awesome, 02:20 but not when we have to arm ourselves against the civilian who needs us. 02:27 And we have an unwritten rule that, when we put out an open fire, the assault team 02:34 goes and puts out the fire, and the rest, the water team, commander and driver, 02:39 stay on the lookout, to make sure we’re not pelted with fireworks, or stones, 02:48 or beer bottles, things like that. 02:51 And I realize now that it’s really strange that we’ve somehow accepted this. 02:56 We prepare ourselves every time. That preparation has become the new normal, 03:04 and if you’re honest, it’s not normal that we’ve grown to see this as normal. 03:08 I think that it’s important that something is done about this. 03:11 I also think it’s important that our people know 03:14 that management sees what they go through on New Year’s Eve.



Video transcript #3: