The AD newspaper is making a formal complaint against Vlaardingen town council for repeatedly lying about an April Fool’s joke – despite being questioned several times about the truth.

The row started last week when the council wrote to the owner of local bar Café Mes (Café Knife), requesting a name change in line with its efforts to reduce knife crime and “remove references to weapons from the public arena”.

Owner Arwin Verburgh placed the letter on social media, saying he was baffled by the request, but it now transpires he too was in on the plot. Nevertheless, politicians were quick to condemn the council’s action, with BBB leader Caroline van der Plas saying on social media: “What the hell, just when you thought things could not get any more insane.”

The AD says it checked with the council several times about the authenticity of the letter and whether or not an April Fool’s joke was involved. Even the mayor’s spokesman denied it was a prank, saying: “We have been busy for 18 months with a campaign… and this is part of it… knives and youngsters are a major problem.”

Café Mes mag geen Café Mes meer heten omdat de naam wapens zou normaliseren. Oh… my… What the hell… Als je dacht dat het niet gekker kon… https://t.co/a3qgmqAqni

— Caroline van der Plas (@lientje1967) March 22, 2025

The story was also covered by a number of Dutch newspapers and websites, including NOS, RTL and Hart van Nederland.

On Monday morning, however, the council finally came clean to the AD, with the request that it keep the truth secret.

“Humour is important, but you should expect a serious and trustworthy government to refrain from making such jokes,” the paper’s editor-in-chief, Paul van den Bosch, said. “I’d be interested in whether the relatives of the victims of knife crime can appreciate this.”

In January, 1 13-year-old Vlaardingen teenager was stabbed to death by another boy, while a 15-year-old youth from nearby Schiedam was seriously injured in a stabbing incident two weeks ago.

“The council and the mayor have lied to us, and that is unacceptable,” Van den Bosch said. “And then to ask us to play along with their game… not a chance. The AD will make a formal complaint.”

Playing jokes on April Fool’s Day has stretched to cover more days in the Netherlands, and journalists have learned to be wary of unlikely-sounding news stories in the days ahead of April 1 itself.

In Britain, the pranks have to be played out on April 1 itself and before midday; otherwise, the saying goes, the joke is on the perpetrator.