An explosion caused damage to a coronavirus testing center in a small Dutch town on Wednesday, in what the police suspect was an intentional attack.
North Holland province police say the device went off near the test center in Bovenkarspel, located about 35 miles north of the capital, Amsterdam, just before 7 am.
The blast broke five windows, but no one was injured, police said. The national broadcaster NOS reported that a security guard was inside the center at the time of the explosion, but was not injured.
Officials cordoned off the area around the test center and a team of explosives was dispatched to the scene to investigate the incident. Pieces of metal from the explosive device were found outside the front of the test center.
North Holland police spokesman Menno Hartenberg told Reuters that the metal device measures approximately 10 by 10 centimeters (4 by 4 inches).
He said that clearly the device did not get there by accident and “it must have been placed there.”
“We don’t know exactly what exploded, explosives experts must first investigate,” said Hartenberg. “What we’re saying is that something like that doesn’t just happen by accident, it has to be put in place.”
The spokesman said it is currently unclear who is responsible for the explosion or what may have been the reason.
National elections are scheduled to take place in the Netherlands on March 17 – seen by many as a referendum on how the government is dealing with the pandemic, Reuters reported.
Health officials in the Netherlands have faced growing anger in recent weeks, to the point that the country’s National Institute of Health now has to be accompanied by security guards.
In January, another test center was set on fire in the fishing village of Urk – located in the province of Flevoland – during several days of riots, which began after the government introduced an evening curfew between 9 pm and 4:30 am
The Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of Health, Welfare and Sports, Hugo de Jonge, described the deployment of the explosive device as “insane” in a post on Twitter.
“For more than a year, we have relied heavily on people on the front lines. And then this. Insane. We will stay behind the people who are working hard to get us out of this crisis,” he said on Monday.
While the circumstances of the explosion are still unknown, Mayor Ronald Wortelboer of Stede Broec – which includes the city of Bovenkarspel – told local news site AD.nl that resistance to coronavirus restrictions may have been the motivation.
“I understand that there are people who are frustrated with the situation of the crown and all the measures,” he said. “It is a great asset that they can sometimes disagree wholeheartedly with one another in our society, but with that freedom comes the duty to express it in a decent way.”
