To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Students Fend Off Knife Attacker With School Bags In The Netherlands

Students Fend Off Knife Attacker With School Bags In The Netherlands

A group of Dutch schoolchildren chased away an attacker at their school who was wielding two knives

Ronan O'Shea

Ronan O'Shea

Footage has emerged of a group of schoolchildren in the Netherlands chasing away a would-be knife attacker using their school bags.

The incident occurred at Scala College in Alphen aan den Rijn, in the Netherlands, a town about 45 minutes away from The Hague.

The video shows a child throw a bag under the man's feet as he's being chased away by a large crowd.

After falling over, the man is kicked, but manages to get back up and begins to wield his knives at the children.

However, another child throws his bag at the man to scare him off, forcing him out of the school gates. The incident occurred on Tuesday.

YouTube/Xaverio van der Aar

The 44-year-old man was later stopped by police and taken into custody.

English-language Dutch outlet NL Times reported that the man was known to police and was involved in a care programme.

"It's being investigated whether other care programs are possible," the police said.

The site also reported that there were no injuries and that support was going to be provided to students by the school.

The NL Times reported last year that crime in general continues to fall in the Netherlands (eight percent in 2016), a continuing trend in recent years. While capital city Amsterdam also enjoyed a decline in crime, it remained the country's most dangerous city.

YouTube/Xaverio van der Aar

While the country has enjoyed a significant reduction in crime in recent years (some prisons have closed due to cells being empty), worries have arisen over the trafficking of drugs and people in the country.

As The Guardian reported last month, while the number of recorded crimes has fallen by a quarter over a nine-year period, 3.5 crimes are unregistered each year, while there are growing concerns over the level of organised crime.

In the UK, knife crime has begun to rise after falling for several years in a row, with sharp instruments (usually knives) accounting for 39 percent of homicides in the 12 months leading up to March 2016.

However, while knife crime has been on the rise, the vast majority of violent attacks that take place in England and Wales (offences in Scotland and NI are counted with slightly different methods) involved no weapon, and as such violent incidents involving knives remains relatively rare.

Knife offences are much higher in London than any other part of England or Wales, with just under 120 per 100,000 people, compared to second place West Midlands, where the figure stands at just under 60 per 100,000 people.

Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Zaverio van der Aar

Topics: World News, Knife Crime, schools, crime