The police have arrested two men who they suspect of involvement in projecting racist statements on the Erasmus bridge in Rotterdam during the New Year festivities. 

Texts including ‘white lives matter’ and ‘we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children’ were projected onto the bridge as midnight sounded. The sentence was first used last century by a white supremacist group in the US and is known as ’14 words’.

Daniel S, 34, from Landgraaf, may also have been behind a similar action in Eindhoven this week, police said. The other, 24-year-old John A from Zwijndrecht, may have been involved with a projection on a building in Alkmaar last month.

It is not clear if they are also suspected in the projection of texts on the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam earlier this month. 

S is also wanted as a suspect in the attack on an Amsterdam man in Breda after he had been stickering the inner city with racist texts. 

The police investigation centred on online research and on the origins of the projector used in the Rotterdam incident. Both men’s homes were searched and the police found a crossbow and parts for a 3D printed gun. 

The police have not ruled out further arrests.