Police arrested more than 150 people after incidents in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and smaller Dutch cities on Monday.
Photographer: Marco de Swart / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Marco de Swart / AFP / Getty Images
The Netherlands faced its worst civil unrest in four decades after a third night of riots against a government curfew aimed at curbing the pandemic, just weeks before a national election.
Police arrested 184 people after incidents in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and smaller Dutch cities on Monday night, the ANP news agency reported. Acting Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday described the disturbances as “criminal violence”.
It is not yet clear what impact the unrest will have on the elections scheduled for March 17. Government of Rutte he resigned on January 15 because of a hard-hitting report on child care benefits, making him head of an interim cabinet until a new government is formed. This process can take months.
The latest opinion polls show that 53-year-old Rutte, who enjoyed strong public support during the Covid-19 outbreak, is likely to remain prime minister while his VVD party consolidates its favorite position. In Dutch politics, the largest faction in parliament takes the lead in forming a cabinet.
Since the beginning of Saturday curfew, there were widespread demonstrations about what a local police union dubbed the worst riots in four decades. People started shooting fireworks at police on Sunday at a protest in a square near Amsterdam’s Van Gogh museum, and images showed others looting a supermarket at Eindhoven’s main train station.
The incidents take place while the country is in confinement, with shops, restaurants and non-essential bars closed until at least 9 February. The national curfew has been added to the government’s arsenal amid concerns about new variants of the coronavirus that may spread more quickly.
At the same time, the overall number of cases has declined in recent weeks. The latest weekly data will be released on Tuesday.
While some protesters seemed focused on destroying property, others expressed their opposition to what they believe to be an unjust violation of their freedom by the government.
“This has nothing to do with fighting for freedom,” said Rutte on Monday in The Hague, adding that, in his opinion, 99% of Dutch people are adhering to the rules – including curfew.
“We are taking these steps not for fun, but because we are fighting the virus and it is this virus that is taking away our freedom at the moment,” he said.
– With the help of Diederik Baazil
(Updates the number of arrests in the second paragraph.)