Whistle, crackle, banned: Dutch set to outlaw fireworks after more new year chaos

Netherlands expected to join Ireland in prohibiting most consumer fireworks as other EU countries debate crackdown

Window-rattling explosions turned Yara Basta-Bos's street into a war zone" last week, but she was spared from the worst of the new year chaos she had seen in the past. A few years ago, the emergency doctor in Amsterdam had to treat a patient clutching their own eyeball after a firework blew it out of its socket.

It feels like such a waste," said Basta-Bos, president of the Dutch society of emergency physicians, adding that last week's revelry resulted in more than 1,200 injuries - one-third of whom ended up in hospital - and two deaths. Of course, fireworks are nice to look at. But the level of damage it's causing in the Netherlands right now is just unbelievable."