Netherlands Today: 21 October 2026

Today’s digest covers a house fire in Gouda, a Champions League win for PSV, and a long-running scandal at a Dutch care home in Spain. There is also a debate about tolerance in Amsterdam and a Katwijk street’s plan for New Year’s Eve under the first nationwide fireworks ban.

Three people in hospital after Gouda fire spreads along a row of homes

A fire started in a home on Regulierenhof in Gouda early on Wednesday morning and spread to two neighbouring houses. Three people were taken to hospital. In terraced streets like this, which are common across the Netherlands, a fire in one home can quickly reach the houses next to it, so it is worth checking your smoke alarms.

Source: NL Times

PSV get their first Champions League group win in Porto

PSV held off heavy pressure from Porto in the second half to win narrowly. It is the Eindhoven club’s first win of this season’s Champions League group stage, which gives Dutch football fans something to follow in the coming weeks.

Source: DutchNews

Woerden father tells how he took his son out of a Dutch care home in Spain

In 2018 a man from Woerden took his 15-year-old son out of Huize Soria, a Dutch-run family care home in Spain, after hearing that the boy was being abused mentally and physically there. The son wanted to leave too, but the youth protection service reported the father to the police for removing a child from legal custody, and he ended up in jail. NOS says reports of abuse at Huize Soria go back to 2015, which raises questions about how the Dutch youth care system supervises placements abroad.

Source: NOS

Head of queer police network says Amsterdam has become less tolerant

In Amsterdam, Michel Peters, chair of Roze in Blauw, the police network for queer officers, told Het Parool that the city is no longer as tolerant as it used to be. He says he is choosing to name “the elephant in the room”. It is an unusually direct statement from inside the police about a city that many internationals choose for its open reputation.

Source: Het Parool

Lansingerland’s local TV goes dark after volunteers walk out

Viewers in Lansingerland now see only teletext messages from an editorial team in Zoetermeer on their local TV channel instead of the usual reports and programmes. Volunteers left after an internal dispute over plans to form a regional broadcaster, and one of them said he would rather build something new.

Source: Rijnmond

Katwijk residents form an association to keep their fireworks

Residents of the Zonnebloemstraat in Katwijk have set up a formal association so they can still let off fireworks on New Year’s Eve. Founder Jaap van Rijn says enough traditions are already under pressure. This New Year will be the first with a general fireworks ban across the Netherlands, so expect a much quieter night than in past years.

Source: Omroep West

Netherlands Today is a curated digest: we summarise and link, the reporting belongs to the publications named. Something wrong or missing? Tell us.