‘Super-quick justice’ – one of the measures designed to put a stop to New Year’s violence, vandalism and other public order offences in the Netherlands – has been branded a failure by the popular RTL news station.

It says only 18 of the 968 troublemakers arrested over the New Year have appeared in court within three days. That is the period stipulated by the much touted super-quick system.

The system was one of a raft of measures designed to put a stop to New Year’s celebrations being marred by trouble. RTL describes the number of super-quick trials as laughable, with one expert describing it as “a drop in the ocean” and saying the measure has had no deterrent effect whatsoever.

Violence
The number of attacks on Dutch public service workers around the New Year celebrations was up on last year. There were well over 100 reports of violent incidents aimed against members of the fire, ambulance and police services.

On New Year’s Day, Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten said it was disappointing and worrying that measures to combat the violence hadn’t worked. Most of the aggression was apparently directed towards police officers.

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© Radio Netherlands Worldwide