News of: Thursday, April 21 2011,
The sale of alcohol will be further limited by the Amsterdam city authorities on Queensday, April 30.
Queens Day (the official day that the birthday of the Queen is celebrated) attracts about 500,000 to a million people to Amsterdam every year.
Traditionally, the day is a large garage sale, where many people sell things on the street, but in Amsterdam it is also a huge street party, attracting people from all over the country and beyond.
This year, April 30 is on a Saturday, so the number of visitors may reach a million.
In the past, alcohol abuse has caused several problems, such as aggression, violence, but also problems in the trains to Amsterdam, such as abuse of emergency breaks.
Because of the unnecessary use of emergency breaks, trains have come to a stand-still, people were let out of the trains and started to walk on the rail tracks, causing the authorities to stop all train traffic around Amsterda all together.
To prevent these problems, more staff will be deployed by the Railways, and a strict alcohol prohibition on all trains is in effect.
Shops, supermarkets and other alcohol sellers will be allowed to sell one alcohol consumption per person only, on April 30.
Supermarkets in the train station will sell no alcohol at all.
Queensday Amsterdam
Queensday boat in canal
Queensday Amsterdam
Queensday Amsterdam
Queensday sales stand