Youths vandalise car windows

3 January 2006

AMSTERDAM — A group of young people smashed car windows in Amsterdam around the New Year, it was reported on Tuesday.

No arrests have been made but the police hope camera images will help identify the culprits. The youths responsible are believed to be Amsterdam-Moroccans aged between 16 and 20, a police spokesperson said on Monday.

The vandalism started in Tolstraat in the Diamant district on Friday night. Order was restored once police with dogs arrived.

The destruction flared up again on New Year’s Night in the Tweede van der Helststraat in the Pijp. The police are investigating whether the same group was involved, but they suspect this is the case. Fifty windows of 29 cars were broken by the vandals.

There were also reports of vandalism of cars in the Spaarndammer region of the city.

The authorities are keen to stamp out this sort of behaviour quickly as it evokes memories of trouble in the Diamant district earlier this year.

Groups of young men, said to be of Moroccan backgrounds, allegedly terrorised native Dutch residents to such an extent in the Diamant that one couple left the area. The police on Monday ruled out a link between that incident and the vandalism. “There are no leads to indicate the same youths were involved. It is very quiet there [Diamant] at the moment,” a police spokesperson said.

Subject: Dutch news