A historic Dutch church dating back 150 years was engulfed in flames during what authorities described as an “unprecedented” night of New Year’s Eve violence across the Netherlands.
The Vondelkerk, an 1872 landmark overlooking Amsterdam’s famed Vondelpark, caught fire shortly before 1 a.m. local time on Thursday, Jan. 1, according to Dutch officials, RTL reports. Residents living near the church were swiftly evacuated as firefighters battled the blaze.
After nearly 10 hours, the fire was brought under control at around 11 a.m. By then, the church’s 164-foot neo-Gothic spire had collapsed, leaving little more than the outer walls standing, De Telegraaf reports.
No injuries were immediately reported, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation, The New York Times reports.
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Designed by Pierre Cuypers, the architect behind the Rijksmuseum, the Vondelkerk functioned as a Roman Catholic parish for almost a century before being deconsecrated and later repurposed as a venue for secular events. The structure had previously suffered a major fire in 1904, which destroyed its original tower.
The destruction of the church came as Dutch police confronted what they described as exceptionally high levels of violence nationwide during New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Nine Kooiman, chair of the Dutch Police Union, said on X that officers and emergency responders were repeatedly targeted with explosives and fireworks. She described an “unprecedented amount of violence,” adding that she herself had been hit multiple times and expressed hope that all personnel would return home safely.
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Authorities reported that approximately 250 people were arrested across the Netherlands as emergency services struggled to keep up with the volume of incidents, De Telegraaf reported. In Utrecht, southeast of Amsterdam, police said they were “continuously attacked by groups of young people,” according to the outlet.
Elsewhere, a 17-year-old boy and a 38-year-old man died in separate fireworks-related incidents overnight, the BBC reported, citing local media. At a burn unit in Groningen, 19 patients — including 10 under the age of 15 — were treated for injuries, De Telegraaf said, double the number seen after last year’s New Year’s celebrations.
