- Riots and looting are spreading across the Netherlands, defying the new COVID-19 curfew.
- Cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Eindhoven were in an uproar.
- A COVID-19 test center in a small town was completely burned.
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There were riots and looting in Dutch cities on Monday, a furious reaction to the new COVID-19 curfew imposed by local authorities.
A virus testing center, hospital and stores were targeted during three days of violence that peaked on Monday night, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The weekend had been the first of a curfew, from 9 pm to 4 am, a new measure designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
This measure was added to the existing blocking rules, which include widespread requests for work at home, wearing a mask in most indoor locations and 1.5 m social distance.
There have been several reports of violent incidents occurring across the country since Saturday night, including:
A man takes a photo of a burned-in coronavirus test center in the port of Urk on January 24, 2021, after the youths protested the first 9 pm night curfew in the Netherlands since the occupation during Monday World War II (World War II)
Jeroen Jumelet / ANP / AFP via Getty Images
- Sunday: A banned anti-lockdown demonstration in Amsterdam turned violent, resulting in the arrest of 190 people, the AP reported. Video footage posted on social media showed people turning over a car:
—Miki 🇷🇸🇳🇱 (@Miki_Djokic) January 25, 2021
Police use a water cannon during a protest in Amsterdam, Netherlands, January 24, 2021
Eva Plevier / Reuters
- Sunday: Protesters in Eindhoven burned a police car and attacked the police with stones and fireworks and looted a supermarket, AP reported. According to the BBC, the bicycles were stacked on burning barricades and the police were shot with golf balls.
- Eindhoven’s mayor, John Jorritsma, called the perpetrators “the scum of the earth” and suggested that they put the country on the path of “civil war” at an emotional press conference, according to the AP. Police arrested 62 suspects, the agency said.
Protesters dropped bikes to block a street and ignited a protest against Covid-19 measures near Eindhoven Central Station on January 24, 2021.
Stringer / Anadolu via Getty Images
- Sunday: Medisch Spectrum Twente hospital in the eastern city of Enschede was attacked by people trying to break its windows with stones, a hospital spokesman told De Volkskrant.
- Monday: Hundreds of young people destroyed vehicles, lit fireworks, smashed shop windows and ransacked stores in Den Bosch, according to De Volkskrant.
—Jorn Jonker (@Jorn) January 25, 2021
- Monday: shops were looted and a police station was hit with stones in Rotterdam, prompting the police to use tear gas and a police officer to fire a warning shot, the newspaper reported. Separate photographs for the press show firefighters putting out fires the same night.
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at the Groene Hilledijk in Rotterdam on 25 January 2021.
Marco de Swaart / ANP / AFP via Getty Images
- Clashes and protests have also been reported in Zwolle, Helmond, Haarlem and The Hague, according to several reports.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte condemned the violence, distancing it from legitimate protest. “This has nothing to do with protest, this is criminal violence and we are going to treat it as such,” the BBC told a news conference.
In the city of Goes and the province of North Holland, police have arrested people on suspicion of using social media to ask for violence, the AP reported.
The Netherlands has reported just over 966,000 cases and 13,686 deaths from the virus to date.