Amsterdam police remained on alert Thursday following another night of rioting in the Slotervaart neighborhood in the western part of the city.
Eight youths were arrested during the riots. Three of them were caught while trying to set private cars on fire. Five others were arrested for allegedly "disturbing public order," a police spokesman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Thursday.
The violence stems from an incident on October 14, when 22-year-old Bilal Bajaka attacked two police officers in a police station with a knife. One of them pulled her gun and shot her attacker, who died on the spot.
During the following nights, youths set cars on fire and threw stones at the police station.
Amsterdam police chief Bernard Welten said the youths came from violent homes, and that he would not be surprised if the riots increased to the level of those in Paris last year. Anyone for visiting Europe?
"Their parents have no authority over them whatsoever," he said.
He also said the youths in the group were arrested frequently, only to be released soon afterwards, "because we want to be a constitutional state."
A constitutional state condoning violence by its tolerance of it.
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