Two dead and church gutted by fire in 'unprecedented' New Year's violence in the Netherlands

At least two people were killed in the Netherlands in a string of violent incidents on New Year’s Eve that Dutch police are calling "unprecedented".

In the southeastern city of Nijmegen, a 17-year-old was killed in an incident involving fireworks shortly after midnight but police have given no further details.

And in the town of Aalsmeer south of the capital Amsterdam, a 38-year-old was killed in another incident involving fireworks which is still being investigated.

Nine Kooiman, the head of the Dutch Police Union, reported an "unprecedented amount of violence against police and emergency services" across the country on New Year's Eve.

She said she herself had been pelted three times by fireworks and other explosives as she worked a shift in Amsterdam.

Shortly after midnight, authorities issued a rare nationwide alert via mobile phones, warning people not to call overwhelmed emergency services unless their lives were at risk.

Reports of attacks against police and firefighters were widespread across the country. In the southern city of Breda, people threw petrol bombs at police.

The eye hospital in Rotterdam said it had treated 14 patients, including 10 minors, for eye injuries. Two received surgery.

It was the last year before an expected ban on unofficial fireworks, so the Dutch bought them in massive quantities.

According to the Dutch Pyrotechnics Association, revellers splashed out a record €129 million on fireworks.

Some areas had been designated firework-free zones, but this appeared to have little effect.

Meanwhile, a massive inferno gutted a 19th-century church in Amsterdam. The blaze broke out in the early hours of Thursday at the Vondelkerk, a tourist attraction overlooking one of the city's top parks since 1872.

The 50-metre-high tower collapsed,and the roof was severely damaged, but the structure was expected to remain intact, Amsterdam authorities said.

The cause of the blaze was not immediately apparent.

Brussels' fireworks chaos

In Belgium, police made several arrests as officers in both Brussels and Antwerp were targeted with fireworks, with a New Year's ban on their use failing to prevent chaotic scenes in both major cities.

Police used tear gas and arrested more than 100 people in the port city of Antwerp, where minors as young as 10 or 11 targeted officers and emergency services with fireworks and stones, setting fire to bikes, cars and trash cans, a spokesperson told the AFP news agency.

Authorities confiscated a number of "very dangerous" professional-grade fireworks, the spokesperson said. A 12-year-old child was seriously injured in a fireworks incident in the northern city.

Likewise in the capital Brussels, police said they were "repeatedly" targeted with fireworks, making some 70 arrests overnight.

And in Germany, two 18-year-olds died in the western city of Bielefeld when they set off home-made fireworks that produced "deadly facial injuries," local police said in a statement.