No riot police were on duty at the Sunset Grooves beach party, which ended in rioting and a fatal shooting, because the local Rotterdam-Rijnmond police chief opted to make savings, according to reports in the AD newspaper.

The cost-cutting decision was taken even though the police had received tip-offs that hooligans were planning to disrupt the event. What is more, shortly before the shooting at the free beach party, riot police had actually been taken off duty. One 19-year-old man was shot dead at the event, and six other people were injured, possibly with bullet wounds.

In a first response, the chairman of the police union ACP, Gerrit van de Kamp, said the anonymous reports in AD also reflected information the organisation has been receiving from its members. Mr Van Kamp said that if the present investigation found the allegations were true, then “a boundary has been crossed”, and it would no longer be possible in future for police to guarantee the safety of the public and fellow officers at such events.

The Police Internal Investigations Department is currently trying to trace more video footage of the free rave, which took place on the beach at the town of Hook of Holland, east of Rotterdam. The department hopes witnesses’ mobile phone films could shed light on the course of events that led up to the shooting. The public can upload their films to the Police Internal Investigations Department website, or pass them on to a public service TV crime programme.

There are presently conflicting reports as to who actually fired shots during the rioting. Sources within the police say that probably only police officers fired. A small group of police officers had come under attack by a large mob, and shots were fired in self-defence. However, the public prosecutor’s office is not ruling out the possibility that the police were not the first to open fire.