Dutch media on September 21 focused on several significant events, following a trend of social unrest and political debates from previous days. In the morning, de Volkskrant highlighted the ongoing struggle to define a "non-ideologically driven terrorist" as Antifa continued to be a debated topic from September 19. By early afternoon, attention shifted to international developments, with NRC reporting on the Taliban's internet shutdown in Afghanistan and concerns about increased isolation. The Rotterdam port faced economic setbacks (Het Financieele Dagblad).
The evening brought a new prominent local story: NRC reported a fatal police shooting of a 15-year-old in Capelle aan den IJssel. This incident was quickly linked by de Volkskrant to the broader normalization of far-right ideology and violence in The Hague, continuing a narrative from the previous day's anti-immigration riots.