A 30-year-old Portuguese man was stabbed on Sunday morning around 6:00 am (7:00 am in Lisbon), near the Oostplein metro station in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
The man was found unconscious at an intersection and taken to the hospital.
Several witnesses reported seeing a group fleeing the scene shortly before the Portuguese man was discovered with multiple stab wounds.
Approximately 20 minutes later, authorities apprehended and arrested three men, aged 24, 25, and 26, near the Oostplein station, matching the witnesses’ descriptions.
The 24 and 26-year-old men are Portuguese nationals, while the 25-year-old is Dutch, from Rotterdam.
After receiving treatment at the hospital, the stabbed Portuguese man was also detained on Sunday afternoon and taken to the local police station.
Authorities have not yet disclosed the reasons for the victim’s detention, but the Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad reports that all four suspects remain in custody and are being interrogated.
Police continue to investigate the case and have appealed to potential witnesses to provide any information they may have.
The Oostplein metro station in Rotterdam was inaugurated on May 10, 1982, coinciding with the opening of the East-West line, of which it is part.
It is located near the border between the city center and the Kralingen-Crooswijk district.
The latest data from the Emigration Observatory in 2023 indicated that more Portuguese emigrated to the Netherlands than to the United Kingdom that year.
In total, two years ago, nearly five thousand Portuguese (4,892) moved to the Netherlands.
According to the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, also in 2023, 310,013 foreign nationals entered the country, with Portuguese nationals accounting for 1.6% of this total.
Thus, the increase in Portuguese emigration to the Netherlands surpassed that to the United Kingdom (4,414 entries in 2023), traditionally the preferred destination for Portuguese emigrants.
Between 2000 and 2023, Portuguese emigration to the Netherlands was at its lowest in 2005, with 830 entries, followed by a significant increase between 2005 and 2008.
Subsequently, a slight decline between 2013 and 2015 was followed by continuous growth in the following years, reaching a record high in 2023, with 4,892 entries, according to the Emigration Observatory.
