Police arrest 27 as heatwave sees third night of rioting in The Hague

Authorities banned residents from opening fire hydrants to cool down.

Police in The Hague arrested 27 people as the rioting continued for the third night in a row, with youths setting a storage building alight and hurling stones and fireworks at officers into the early hours of Saturday morning.

The unrest started earlier this week as temperatures spiked in the Netherlands, while local authorities banned residents from opening fire hydrants to cool down.

More than 20 people were arrested the previous night amid local riots.

Officers said they arrested people for offences including public violence, incitement and threatening behaviour.

Riot police guarded firefighters as they extinguished a store shed that had been torched amid the unrest.

A neighbourhood in the city of Utrecht also saw disorder and arrests on Friday.

As the riots broke out in two neighbourhoods that are home to many immigrant families, right-wing populists are using the disturbances to argue to deportations and bolster anti-migrant rhetoric in the Netherlands.

This week has been the hottest week since the Netherlands started records, with a seven-day average of 33.1C. The previous record was 32C in 1972.