The police judge sentenced 20-year-old Ralph H. on Friday to five months in prison, two of which were conditional, for shooting police officers with fireworks during riots about the arrival of a temporary emergency shelter for asylum seekers in IJsselstein. A second suspect, Michel van D. (41), who took the fireworks, was acquitted.
During the hearing against Ralph H., the Public Prosecution Service had demanded a prison sentence twice as long: ten months, four of which were conditional. The Public Prosecution Service demanded 10 months unconditionally against Michel van D.. According to the Public Prosecution Service, he encouraged his co-suspect to set off the fireworks. The judge decides on the other hand, that ‘it cannot be established with certainty that he could have suspected that the fireworks he brought would ultimately be used to shoot at the police’.
On the night of May 2 to 3, officers were shot with a Roman candle containing 380 ‘shots’. During the hearing, the public prosecutor spoke of a “runaway machine gun”. The judge spoke of violence that “exceeds all bounds.”
Michel van D., who also took his 12-year-old son with him to the riots, acknowledged that he had taken the fireworks in question. However, he distanced himself from the violence against the officers. Ralph H. in turn acknowledged having shot the fireworks at the police. He himself spoke of an impulsive and “very stupid” action.
The municipality wants to accommodate 100 to 150 people on a football field from June to December. At the beginning of May, riots in IJsselstein got out of hand and stones were smashed through the windows of the town hall and an adjacent theater. Fireworks were also thrown inside. Anti-azc texts were also applied with yellow paint, as well as a swastika.
One of the officers had a firework explode near his head. He was injured as a result. He suffered scorch marks on his head and possibly hearing damage. The officers approached a group of people in dark hoodies and face coverings, who, among other things, covered cameras at City Hall. According to the Public Prosecution Service, both suspects did not come to demonstrate peacefully, but “to destroy, destroy and do violence to others.”