Amsterdam hosts New Year's street party 02/01/2007 00:00

2 January 2007

AMSTERDAM — Despite the rain, between 20,000 and 23,000 celebrated to the start of 2007 at Dam Square in Amsterdam on Sunday night.

The party started at 9pm as the capital's residents and tourists danced to music from DJs and the radio station Caz!.

A police spokeswoman said the atmosphere was good and no serious incidents took place.

But fewer people were gathered at the Dam than in previous years, probably due to the poor weather. It started to rain at about 11pm.

Fire brigade officers were called out several times from 2pm onwards in the capital to put out small fires, mainly in rubbish bins.

The theme of this year's festival was 'dance'. It signalled the start of the year's theme: 'Amsterdam Feel the rhythm - music & dance'.

It is the 5th year in a row that the Amsterdam city centre hosted a large New Year's Eve party.

Amsterdam joins a list of world cities such as New York, London, Paris and Moscow where large street parties are witnessed on the night of 31 December.

[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2006]

Subject: Dutch news