At least 200 people were arrested during the New Year festivities in the Netherlands during what police described as an “unsettled” evening.

Emergency service workers were attacked in several parts of the country and there were a number of “serious” incidents, police said.  Exact arrest figures will be published later.

Riot police were drafted in in Haarlem, Zaandam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Amsterdam, Breda, and Groningen well as in several rural areas, and in Culemborg they used tear gas to keep troublemakers at bay.

On the Dam in central Amsterdam, the atmosphere was tense and there were a number of robberies, police said. Police also reportedly fired warning shots after coming under attack.

Amsterdam’s mayor Femke Halsema called for a national ban on fireworks after a “large number” of incidents. In total 66 people were arrested, 32 vehicles were set on fire and ambulances answered 275 call-outs.

“A local ban has no chance of success as long as the government does nothing to stop the sale [of fireworks], and is giving consumers the wrong signal,” she said. Rotterdam mayor Carola Schouten made a similar call earlier.

“What should have been a celebration turned into a night of vandalism and violence in a number of places,” police chief Janny Knol said in a statement. “Police officers and other emergency service workers were targeted. It is unacceptable that there are so many, often serious, incidents at New Year.”

Knol also referred to the impact of powerful, and illegal, fireworks which led to the death of a 14-year-old boy and many serious injuries. “It is incomprehensible that people use them,” she said. “They are deliberately taking unacceptable risks for themselves and others.”

Justice minister David van Weel described the targeting of emergency service workers as “extremely sad”.

“This behaviour should never be seen as normal and we are going to do all we can to arrest those responsible,” he said on social media.

Every year there are calls for consumer fireworks to be banned in parliament and some 60% of the population support a ban, according to recent polls. However, there is no majority for such a move in the lower house of parliament.

According to the Dutch pyrotechnic sector, the Dutch spent a record €118 million on fireworks this year, beating the 2022 record by €3 million.