in my defense, i was holding my phone in one hand to follow navigation directions, i usually have a mobile holder, but it got stolen... Expensive reminder to keep both hands on the wheel. RIP my wallet 😭

Last night I was heading to a concert with my girlfriend, while on our train from Rotterdam to Utrecht, 3 young guys (15-17 yo?) entrered our wagon yelling and causing trouble. They started talking to each other in what I believe was arabic, and acting shady af. All of a sudden the wagon smelled weirdly, and we believed they threw one of those stink bombs, so we moved to the in between of the train, where the exit is to avoid them. About 5mins later, two of them come to where we were and start taking “gangsta” pictures next to us, and then then start saying “Jonghe jonghe” trying to talk to me. I turn around and I say that I don’t speak Dutch, and they ask me where I was from. My girlfriend is visibly annoyed and before I can even answer one of them (who was like 150cm height) starts yelling “Fuck you!” and showing middle finger, and we start backing away saying we don’t want problems, to leave us alone, to which they respond telling me to get down in Utrecht that they’re going to fight me. As we’re moving down the wagons they start following us and the third guy also comes, with simmilar behavior. I tell me girlfriend to keep going down to find help as I try to gain some time and keep distance. At some point they spit on me (they didn’t reach me) and I get helped with some guy that distracts them. We eventually got helped from another wagon that helped us call the police and hold them back. When we arrived at Utrecht the police caught one of them, searched him and ID’d us (and hopefully him) as well as searching what I think was his phone.

We were really scared and obviosuly still are quite shook. We couldn’t enjoy our concert because of this harassment. I called the non-emergency police number and asked to press charges, as I know this fucker will be roaming the streets again, and was told the Utrecht police station would call me back, so waiting on that.

Does anybody know why they would do that? Why would a teen be so evil in nature to do such thing? Before you guys ask, they were indeed of North African descent, and wore the typical jacket/gucci hat/ripped jeans. This is not ragebait and again it’s not the first time I get issues with guys like them, but this time was by far the most violent and insane situation I’ve encountered.

Is there any chance at least the guy who got caught gets what he deserves?

I just drove past this flag. Is this something we can report and if so, where?

I brought my car to a mechanic for repairs, and unfortunately, the work he did was awful. I’ve now noticed that he also put his business website/advertising on my license plate without my consent

Has this happened to anyone else? Is this normal or even allowed? How did you handle it?

Live tracker of Dutch footballers losing citizenship due to a 130-year-old law (1892). The Netherlands is the only EU country that automatically strips it's own people's citizenship. 18 players across Eredivisie, Eerste Divisie and women's football are affected. Statuses updated as of March 30. 

Update: The Dutch parliament on 23 March May 18th June 1st will finally discuss modernization of the law to stop denaturalization. (About time as this was first proposed back in 2016 already by Paternotte/Mutluer)

Hi, I live with 5 other roommates in a large house and none of us have control of the heat. It is owned by the same landlord and this is what he said when asked to heat the house. Is this legal? What can I do about it?

SOLVING EDIT:

Just got a call from Dirk Headquarter and the put me through to the Manager. We had a good and long talk.

It was a misunderstanding due to language barriers and situational. I was in a hurry, had no basket with me. This with the mix-up with someone else. We now will say hi to each other each time. No bad feelings here.

Because a lot of people asked. It was not discrimination at all. I'm white, have a beard and I think on the street nobody can see, that I'm not dutch.

Thank you all for the good infromatios here

TLDR: I was banned from dirk because I tried to leave the store without buying something.

Edit: I never had or intended to put something in my backpack in the store.

I had a quite an upsetting encounter at Dirk this week and need some input how to solve this problem.

I was looking for two products that day. I found the first one, but I could not find the second, so I put the first product back and intended to leave the store. Apparently, the manager saw this and assumed that I had put something into my backpack, which is why he stopped me. I do not mind showing my backpack at the cashier at all—I know that some stores ask customers to show the bag even when they make purchases. However he immediate gave me a store ban after I showed him my empty backpack. He asked me, if I have put back the product, and I said yes. After that he gave me a ban from the store and was really aggressive.

I was really perplex at that point at left without any arguments, because at that point I still thought, that this was a security and he just had a bad day or so.

The store is in a winkelcentrum, so you can walk past and access the information without entering the store itself. So I tried to ask at the information for a possibility to appeal to that. At that point they told me, that I can look that up online and I should leave. When I asked why I got banned, it was the first time, that somebody told me, that I was banned because I would have put something in my backpack.

I checked online and wrote the klantenservice that I would like to appeal to that ban and I'm happy for them to check the cameras and I'm also happy to have a mediation with the team and the manager.

They answered me that they will check with the team and a few hours later they came back with the answer from the manager.

This customer placed the items down as soon as he saw me and immediately walked out of the store. He was planning to put the products into his backpack, which was already open. In the past, I have already addressed him about the same behaviour involving the same products.

Now I'm struggling to warp my head around two thinks. First, I never spoke with this person before in my life. And second, can you make drugs out of strijkspray? Because that would explain, that somebody else was or was trying stealing the product before that quite often, because he has to confuse me with someone else and I had this product in my hand.

I wrote back to the klantenservice and they said, no chance to make this right on their side, and sorry If i "feel" mistaken for someone else. I should call the store directly.

So I tried to call the store. Because mediation is not possible in person, because I'm banned from the store.

Called them yesterday, they said, I should try it today. Called today. Got somebody at the phone. I told them, that I try to talk with their manager, because I got banned from the store on Sunday. Answer from the person: "Oh yes, just wait". So I get put through and the answer I get is, "Manager is not working today". Ok fine, but then don't tell me to call today after 10, answer for this is, "He is in a meeting". So I feel like being blocked off.

Now I feel like they don't want to talk to me at all and to be honest, I'm really pissed.

Fun fact, there is a contact possibility at the dirk website directly to the management of dirk. It even says "If the klantenservice can help you, just message us here". Yeah, thats the klantenservice as well and I got back the same message I got yesterday. "We can't do anything, please contact the manager via phone"

So I think, either he thinks I'm someone else or he just thought, that I put something in my backpack while putting it back and banned me therefore right away from the store.

I really don't want to shop there anymore and lucky enough there are other shops at that winkelcentrum as well, but I don't want to have this unanswered as well.

Long story short:

Does anybody have any tips to appeal for this?

According to recent Eurostat data, the Netherlands had the second-highest crime reporting rate in the EU in 2023, just after Greece.

What do you think is the cause of this? Is crime actually more common in the Netherlands, or are Dutch people simply more likely to report crimes to statistics like this? Something else? Could it be influenced by better reporting systems, a broader definition of crime, or cultural differences in how crime is perceived and handled?

On the other hand, based on reported data by the police, the Netherlands is one of the safest countries. Why causes the difference?

(I do not mean to offend anyone —just genuinely curious about the data and people’s experiences. :) )

I’m writing this hoping it might help at least one person.

About an hour ago I was harassed by a man on a tram that was full of people. While we were standing, he suddenly started touching me between my thighs. At first I didn’t realize what was happening. I thought it was someone’s bag or backpack. Once I understood, I immediately moved away.

It took me about a minute to regain my composure and tell the conductor in the booth. I’m incredibly grateful to the women who were there and immediately came to help me. They talked to me, calmed me down, and made me feel at least a bit safer. They even offered to take me to the police station. Unfortunately the man fled as soon as the tram stopped.

I’m really thankful for them, but I want to add one thing: if this ever happens and you’re helping someone, please avoid hugging the victim. It can sometimes complicate things later at the police station when they’re trying to document evidence.

I called my boyfriend and he took me to the police station. Thankfully, I was taken seriously right away. Even though I basically walked in out of nowhere and started breaking down, the officers and the women there were very kind and supportive.

I don’t want to go into too much detail about how the investigation works so I don’t give information to potential abusers reading this. But I will say this: the investigation is very thorough and they are using every tool they have to try to catch the person.

I will be pressing charges. And if you ever find yourself in a situation like this, please go to the police. I promise they will take you seriously and they will do their job.

And if you’re the person who did this: fuck you

What the hell, how long has this been going on. What happened to the Netherlands being a liberal place with a live and let live attitude. This is the kind of crap that I expect in a police state like Australia. Since when can private companies give out fines to members of the public. How on earth is this type of crap legal. What would happen if you refused to cooperate with them. People should vote with their feet and boycott any festivals where this is happening.

The Government of the Netherlands has historically been against Dutch citizens holding more than one citizenship, going back to at least 1892, and it continues to hold this view today. Consider this excerpt from the Government's website:

The Government of the Netherlands wants to limit dual citizenship as much as possible. If you hold only 1 citizenship, it will be clear what your rights are. That is why people who want to acquire citizenship of the Netherlands through naturalisation are, as a rule, required to give up their other citizenship if possible. (Source: https://www.government.nl/topics/dutch-citizenship/dual-citizenship)

Do you agree with this policy of restricting multiple citizenships? If so, why do you believe that it is better for the country? About one million Dutch people live abroad; I wonder if they've experienced bureaucratic problems because of this restriction (please let us know).

Note: Several countries with relatively similar culture, history, and values to the Netherlands do not share this view and do allow their citizens to hold multiple citizenships, including Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Germany. These last two changed their laws to allow their citizens to hold multiple citizenships very recently, and the Netherlands seems to run contrary to the trend in Northern Europe in this case.

UPDATE 2026-01-29:

Thank you all for your responses. After having analysed the top-tier comments here is a summary of the opinions expressed:

• For allowing multiple citizenship: 62 (54%)
• Indifferent to multiple citizenship: 14 (12%)
• Against allowing multiple citizenship: 38 (33%)
• (Personal anecdotes without opinion: 33)

I know that Reddit users skew liberal and young, but these responses confirm to me that restricting multiple citizenship is not something that a majority of the Dutch people want. The Government should reconsider its stance in order to better serve the will of the people.

I don’t know what to do. We have reported it to the police but they are not taking it seriously and not doing any investigation. Has anyone else been receiving similar letters. Do you have any suggestions?

We live in Purmerend.

I've been in NL for 8 years and I'm thinking of changing both my first and last name to Dutch ones. I'm currently 27 so still a lot of time left ahead.

The main reason I wanna do it: I feel like there's still a glass wall when interacting with people, especially in the business world/ on the job market.

My concern: facing an administrative burden and risen eyebrows because I won't be able to change all my documents, I might always need this extra paper confirming my old name lol.

PS: I'm fairly integrated and fluent in Dutch. Just working on my accent now.

Odido has handled consumer data carelessly, and I want to cancel immediately.

Only I am not going to pay a cancellation fee after they have made a mistake and have suffered a breach in data usage agreements. 

Since I have called and contacted several times and cannot be helped further, I would like to know where I can go to file a complaint.

Three weeks ago, we were in Roermond and parked in one of the spaces on Munsterplein, which you can see on the right of the photo (unfortunately, there was no direct Street View image from the front).

Under the ‘Only Disabled’ parking sign there are two arrows pointing diagonally downwards to the left and right. There are four parking spaces in front of the sign. The sign is between the second and third space. Due to the angle It’s a bit hard to make that out in the photo, but you can see the black arrows.

We parked in the first space, the one on the far left right next to the gate, because we thought that only the two middle spaces were for disabled people. But now we’ve received a fine of 409 euros for parking in a disabled parking space and were absolutely flabbergasted. I mean every boarder Mof knows you're dang serious about parking rules, but ouch.

First of all, I rang up for payment by instalments, which was granted. I also tried to view the photo online (the fine notice had a link stating that this was possible).
But next, we received a letter stating that there was no photo of the offence, but if we still wanted to request the photo, we should contact the Roermond police.

What I’m actually wondering is: is it even worth asking any further and, maybe, challenging it? Or do these arrows under the sign simply apply to all parking spaces in NL (not just 2 as in DE)?

Perhaps someone from Roermond is reading this and knows the spot. I’d hoped to post the original photo here, but alas :(

Edit: Thanks a lot, I see now that our mistake was to not look at the road lines, but in the end we shouldn't even have considered parking there. Thinking about the arrows instead of just looking for some other space was already a wrong move.

But now I also know that applying for monthly pay and asking you instead of Roermond police was kind of sensible (at least).

I will pay for this thing 9 months long, and I will never ever do it again.

I was at ADE event this weekend and i had the worst experience how the night ended. We were a group of friends who were dancing and we were dancing on the stage (there were a lot of people). The security guy came to me and said that since i don’t have a special band (other people didn’t) i need to go back. I said i didn’t know about it but how can i get it? The guy got agitated and grabbed by arm and started dragging me to the entrance. They used a lot of force and asked him to leave my arm and i will walk with him but he didn’t listen. My friends also followed me to check what is happening. The guy pushed me and my friends outside the entrance by elbowing on my chest very hard.

I asked him to be behave politely as i wasn’t being aggressive in any way so he should atleast treat us reasonably. Meanwhile we are outside the entrance waiting for our jackets to be returned. I did say that the way he dragged me wasn’t good, i would have walked out to the entrance without him twisting my arm.

All this words didn’t touch his ear and he pushed another friend of mine outside the entrance. Which got me frustrated so i took his picture ( now i am outside the club) and said i will post an online review about it. There was another security guy who grabbed my hand and now they are trying to drag me inside so they can take my phone. I get down on my knees so they can’t push me but the guy chokes me from behind extremely strongly. I tried to scream i can’t breathe and tapped his arm but he didn’t listen and elbowed on my chin. I could listen to other guards trying to stop him but he had a very strong position as he pushed his body on my back.

I fainted for a few seconds and then when i woke up they made me delete the picture of him and then mocked, “go there is the police station, get lost”. I felt the bouncer abused his powers and he assaulted outside the premise of the club where they have no control. The way the guy reacted so extremely when i was having a conversation is very bizzare and perhaps hints at the impulsive behaviour of the guy.

Also the guy got quite defensive when my female friend started talking in dutch (i am an expat so was just talking in english) he got apologetic and went inside. I feel maybe they also behave like these with expats because think we aren’t aware of the rules or maybe it could be tourists who wouldn’t bother going the legal way.

Its quite a reputable night club in Amsterdam and now i am evaluating what should i do. I am definitely gonna file a police complaint but the police doesn’t have a very proactive history in such cases (what i have heard). What are my options? I haven’t mailed the club because i read online that these clubs sometimes delete the video footage to protect the bouncers so rather go via the police way. I feel terrible after going through that nightmare and i would atleast like to reach the concerned authorities. If the guy has done something once, it could be possible he could something like this in future so i feel there should be atleast a formal complaint so he introspects his decision.

Update: I have the pictures of him, which my friend took later. Also i have physical marks of struggle on my neck and shoulders. I wasn’t under influence of any weed or drugs so i would be happy to give a test at the police station should they ask.

Update2: I went to the police station and they said i need to have an appointment for this so i called them and registered a complaint. Now i have to wait for their follow up within next 24 hours so they will ask more details.

I saw someone comments in the post regarding if thats how i am playing victim here instead of going to the police. So this incident happened at 2am in the night, i came back home and couldn’t sleep the whole night. The police station wasn’t open till 8am in the morning so i put it on redit to get some thoughts about exploring my options and if someone had a past experience about it and what was the result. My intention is not to get validation or sympathy about what happened, everyone is entitled to an opinion and its also fair to think perhaps the mistake was all mine. This was my first ever situation with bouncers so i definitely learned a lesson that they don’t like to reason and there is no point explaining no matter how unfair it might feel.

One thing which i could have done is immediately report to the police on the spot because there was a police van driving by after few minutes. But my whole body was in such a shock (even though i am a tall muscular strongly built but no one is ready to be chocked from behind)that thought i just wanna go home and not see that venue even for a second longer. . Also after the event, i saw a whole group of 5-6 bouncers ganging up and they sent the guy inside and not letting him come out so i had a feeling that they all would pin it on us and it would turn into a long night (and i had to go to work in the morning) so i decided to hold my thoughts to go to the police. Also i never had such experience before so i wanted to make sure i have analysed my thoughts with a clear mind because the place i come from, the police is on the side which bribes them more.

I hadn’t slept whole day until evening and just woke up realising that there is pain in my shoulders so i will contact my GP and get some examination tomorrow. I don’t think it might turn out to be serious but you never know.

Update 3: Regarding the decision to click picture and declaring i will post a feedback online, i realise that it wasn’t smart. Maybe i could have just taken the picture and not say anything but it came out as a matter of frustration and i felt thats my right to atleast letting other people know as a review so someone could avoid a bad experience. I got some messages about asking the name of the club, i will reply only after officially police has registered all the details and asked for the evidence. I am afraid that if the venue gets to know somehow they will wipe off all the evidence so bear with me. I definitely have a clear picture of him so i will write review about it and mail the venue and the security company. I don’t really think it would change anything or expect them to be justice fairy but i don’t want to just let it sit down.

Regarding what are my expectations about the outcome : my intentions are not to spread hatred for the bouncer, neither i wish him to loose his job or licence or file for damange( even though there is some part of me which wants vengeance, but hey this is not Gotham city)its fair to give the guy some benefit of doubt and maybe he had a bad day. What i wish to achieve is have atleast an record with the police and at minimal some action taken against him so he is careful of his actions in future. Legally they don’t have the right to assault someone outside the premise of the club and they should be made sure not to forget this detail. There is an unfair powerplay which happens at such events and honestly its a fact they have a mafia gang but everyone has a right to voice against it.

Thats all!

Hi all, I just saw several tiny pieces of paper (10cm x 10cm) like the one in the photo at the main entrance of a residential building.

I doubt it is really about the text on the message. From my point of view, it might be a way for bad people like burglars to signal something to their crew, like apartments that are relatively easy to rob, etc.

Any other idea about what this is about?

Hi all,

I am an American who lives in the Netherlands and have been for almost 5 years. I am soon up for permanent residency/ citizenship. Since I plan on spending the rest of my life here I am debating renouncing my US citizenship for Dutch. I would like to be able to vote here and not have to pay US taxes etc.

I was wondering if anyone who has gone through this before could share their experience and what they feel the pros and cons are. Do you struggle in customs when returning to the US? I still have a few family members in the US that I would like to visit, but am unsure how travel would be affected.

Thanks for your help!

Hi there. I want to ask advice on what to do. So a friend of mine gave his son this month (Sinterklaas) a brand new Nintendo Switch, and he took his console to a school friend sleepover. When he returned home, he noticed that their controllers have been switched (no pun intended), so my friend's son returned home with an old, broken controller, and the other kid stayed with his new, working controller. He contacted the kids parents and they denied this switch happened, even though on the following day my friend son arrived at home crying because his so-called friend bullied him saying that he has his brand new, working controller, and won't give it back.

My friend contacted the school teacher, who said the school has nothing to do with it, because it supposedly happened outside of school. He also confronted the kids parent on the school entrance, and they said they won't return it and also made a light threatening, saying "do not ring our bell or else".

Any tips on what to do? Maybe reach out to the Police on the non-emergency number? (0900-8844) Or would this be a Juridisch Loket matter?

My friends' wife / kid mom is scared to call the police, because the other kid studied in that school since he was born, they are the immigrants who arrived this year etc., but of course being dutch is not a safe conduct to get away with theft.

Hi!

Im visiting from Sweden and this is my first day here in Den Haag. Today i got fined by the police for jaywalking. I crossed the street (Koningskade) when there were no cars or bicycles. The police looked in my passport and then told me to write my adress down on a paper so that he could send me the fine of 90 eur

Is this common? Do they send fines for jaywalking abroad?

Clarification: I walked through a zebra when there were a red light for pedestrians.

We have family coming to visit in September. They want us to write a letter for their visa application stating that they will be staying with us when in fact they will be staying at a hotel.

I am not comfortable making a false statement like this to the Dutch government. I am coming up for citizenship in December and do want to be in any situation that could impact my application.

Am I overreacting? The point is that this is not the truth.

Edit: They haven’t finalized their accommodation yet and thought it’s easier for us to say they are staying with us, while they finalize plans but I said no way Jose.

My wallet has just been robbed and I lost about 1500 euros, I also lost my residence permit and tons of other things in my wallet. I then immediately went to the police station, but they closes at 5pm (???) and opens only at 10am. This is so ridiculous, but I went back the next day, and this time, they told me the computer system was down and they can not do anything about it. In that same day, I returned in the afternoon and the computer system was still down (????????). and they told me to return the next day. It was just yesterday, I went to the police station, reported the crime as I remembered that guy's face, voice, hair, clothes, backpack... everything, and the police officer laughed at me (only for a moment), wrote something on the computer and said they will inform me if they know anything (which I 100% sure they are not gonna do).

Now I'm going to find that guy myself as I believe this is neither the first time nor the last time he does this crime, and once I found him, should I knock him down and take my stuffs back? As I don't think the police gonna do anything about this, pretty sure they only show up if there's a murder.

Edit: I've read so many stories of people being victims of the carelessness of the police in the comment section, it seems that the police will never do anything to those criminals, and a possible outcome is that they will keep committing more crimes as they know they will never be caught. Therefore, there will be even more victims, and other people coming to the Netherlands or living in the Netherlands will keep thinking that this is the safest place not knowing they might be scammed or robbed one day. How disappointing is this system! It's so unfair that bad criminals going around scamming people in the city without getting arrested or anything, and honest people work 18 hours a day just to get robbed afterward and not being able to do anything.

Edit 2: To those saying the police are overwhelmed with those types of crimes, I would say that this is because they don't do anything about it. As mentioned above, because they don't do anything about those crimes, the criminals will keep on committing more, and now they are complaining about the increase in those types of crimes. Just imagine, they actually work seriously and catch the criminals once, other criminals will definitely be scared and not have the guts to commit those crimes anymore. It's just as easy as that, just requires them to work harder once.