URK, Netherlands (AP) – Protesters set fire to the center of Eindhoven, in the south of the Netherlands, and threw stones at the police on Sunday in a banned demonstration against coronavirus confinement measures, while police responded with tear gas and cannons. water, arresting at least 30 people.
Police in the capital, Amsterdam, also used a water cannon to disperse an illegal anti-blockade demonstration in a large square surrounded by museums. The video showed the police spraying people grouped against a wall at the Van Gogh Museum.
It was the worst violence to hit the Netherlands since the start of the pandemic and the second consecutive Sunday that the police clashed with protesters in Amsterdam.. The country has been in a difficult blockade since mid-December, which should continue until at least 9 February.
In Eindhoven, 125 kilometers (78 miles) south of Amsterdam, a central square near the main train station was filled with rocks, bicycles and shattered glass. The crowd of hundreds of protesters is also believed to include supporters of the anti-immigrant group PEGIDA, which sought to demonstrate in the city.
Eindhoven police said they had made at least 30 arrests in the late afternoon and warned people to stay away from the city center amid clashes. Trains to and from the station were stopped and local media reported looting at the station.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The violence came a day after anti-curfew protesters set fire to a coronavirus testing facility in the Dutch fishing village of Urk.
Video of Urk, 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Amsterdam, showed young people breaking into the coronavirus testing facility near the village’s harbor before it was set on fire Saturday night.
The blockade was imposed by the Dutch government to contain the spread of the most transmissible variant of the coronavirus.
Police said they fined more than 3,600 people across the country for violating the curfew that operated from 9 pm on Saturday to 4:30 am on Sunday and arrested 25 people for violating the curfew or for violence.
Police and city officials issued a statement on Sunday expressing their anger at the disturbances, “from the launch of fireworks and stones to the destruction of police cars and the burning of the test site as a deep spot”.
“This is not only unacceptable, but also a slap in the face, especially for the staff of the local health authority who do everything they can at the test center to help the people of Urk,” said local officials, adding that the touch curfew would be strictly enforced for the rest of the week.
On Sunday, all that was left of the portable test building was a burnt-out carcass.
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Associated Press writer Mike Corder in Otterlo contributed.
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