Amsterdam follows the example of Utrecht and Leiden and abandons the central armrest of park benches as this type of bench is increasingly considered hostile architecture and the capital wants to be more welcoming to its homeless residents

The Court of Rottdertam sentenced a man for the first time in history for sexually assaulting a woman in the street; the law was amended to make it a punishable offence on 1 July

Registration will be open for specialised centres for long-term COVID patients who can register via their general practitioners in just over one month, from 1 November; the first centres to open will be Maastricht UMC+, Amsterdam UMC and Erasmus MC

A consortium of municipalities, private investors and industry organisations has warned that if the Council of Ministers applies all measures planned for art and culture, i.e. VAT from 9% to 21%, the sector will lose EUR 350 million per year