Justice minister Ard van der Steur warned on Friday that disruptive behaviour from young people in Zaandam ‘cannot be tolerated’ – although he added that police are up to the job of dealing with it, and the threat should not be exaggerated.

A group of young men in the Poelenburg district of Zaandam has been harassing residents, smashing windows and slashing tyres. On Thursday, a camera man and reporter for the SBS6 television station show Hart van Nederland were threatened.

‘I really think that this behaviour cannot be tolerated and that it must stop,’ Van der Steur told media including RTL broadcaster.

One of the group posts vlogs – or short videos – on YouTube and the Telegraaf reports that the content of his channel has been marked by YouTube as ‘violent’, preventing adverts from being displayed unless advertisers have agreed to feature on this kind of video.

Zaanstad municipality has announced that it will put more police on the street while ‘talking to young people…in practice, often the most effective way to reduce youth nuisance.’