10 December 2007

AMSTERDAM – People who carry a pocket knife in Amsterdam, to peel an apple for instance, will be allowed to keep their "weapons." The court in Amsterdam acquitted a Frenchman on Monday of prohibited weapons possession, the man's lawyer Rene van Seumeren has announced.

The police confiscated the man's Swiss army knife during preventative frisking on the Zeedijk on 16 February last year. He was fined EUR 150 and summoned to appear in court. "The court said that it could not be demonstrated that he was carrying the pocket knife with the intention of harming someone," Van Seumeren said.

The Frenchman, who had lived in Amsterdam for a year at the time, was walking to a boat with his son on the day in question, with plans to have a picnic. He had the knife with him to make sandwiches and peel an apple. "He has it with him everyday," says Van Seumeren. He knew nothing of the preventative searches being conducted by police.

Amsterdam has declared the city centre and city district Zuidoost high risk areas where police may search people preventatively without prior warning. The municipality says this will reduce the number of weapons incidents in these areas.

[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2007]

Subject: Dutch news