Violent protests against the blockade sweep the Netherlands

Violent protests have erupted in the Netherlands for the past three consecutive nights, with protesters setting fires and clashing with the police, challenging strict blockade measures against the coronavirus.

Nearly 500 people have been arrested in cities across the country since the protests began over the weekend, including more than 180 who were arrested Monday night. The riots took place in larger cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam, but also in smaller cities across the country. Protesters violated the 9 pm curfew and looted businesses, set fire to and threw stones at buildings and the police.

“These are the biggest disturbances in 40 years,” Laura Groenendaal, research and project manager for the German Marshall Fund, based in Houten, The Netherlands, told me. “We usually say that the Netherlands is extremely boring, so that is, of course, the complete opposite.”

The Netherlands has been under requests to stay at home for weeks, with closed non-essential deals and meeting limits. In early January, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte extended blocking orders once again, citing concerns about the more virulent variant of coronavirus B.1.1.7 first discovered in the UK.

And this weekend, the government decreed a 9 pm curfew until 10 February to help slow the spread of the virus, the first time since World War II that the country has imposed a curfew.

Protesters include anti-government groups and Covid-19 skeptics, but also criminals who try to exploit the chaos and bored people – mostly young people – who have been stuck inside and have now been released. Amsterdam police said “football hooligans” were part of the crowd in that city, according to the Financial Times.

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“All these different things formed this toxic cocktail, and the curfew announcement, which started last Saturday, became the spark that made everything explode,” said Groenendaal.

Protests are widespread and some smaller cities have witnessed rather dramatic violence over the weekend, including the southern city of Eindhoven, where protesters incinerated a car and ransacked a supermarket at the train station on Sunday. In Urk, in the central part of the country, protesters set fire to a Covid-19 test center.

Rutte called “Criminal violence”, and rejected the idea that these protests were about freedom. “We must win the fight against the virus together, because only then will we be able to regain our freedom,” he said on Monday.

The country prepares for more protests

The violence of these protests came as a surprise, but Dutch authorities and the police are preparing for the unrest to continue.

The experts I spoke with said there is some dissatisfaction with the current government, especially with the slow implementation of vaccines in a country that otherwise has a very efficient health system. The Netherlands was one of the last countries in the European Union to receive the vaccine, and the rate of inoculation is still slow.

The Dutch government obtained decent marks for dealing with the coronavirus at the beginning of the pandemic, but loosened restrictions during the summer and, at first, did not advise the use of masks and did not impose strict rules of social distance. The cases reappeared in the fall, and the Netherlands became one of the countries most affected during Europe’s second wave.

This forced the government to introduce stricter measures to slow the spread, closing bars and restaurants in the fall and closing non-essential schools and establishments in December. Cases have declined, but the Dutch government extended these measures and added curfew to defend against variant B.1.1.7, which spreads much more aggressively.

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Some opposition lawmakers, both left and right, have criticized the curfew. Geert Wilders, a right-wing populist politician, said curfew means “losing mass freedom and that is not fun”. But, in the end, many lawmakers supported the measures.

The troublemakers represent a small and disparate slice of the public. How the rest of the country feels about the blockade measures and how the Dutch government is dealing with Covid-19, it will probably become clearer in a few weeks, since the Netherlands is holding general elections for its House of Representatives in mid-March.

Rutte and his party, the Popular Party for Freedom and Democracy, remained quite popular. But a scandal unrelated to child welfare benefits forced the collapse of the Dutch governing coalition earlier this month. Rutte, who is a member of the largest government party, remains until the elections as interim minister. But together, the pandemic, the hiccups of vaccination and the welfare scandal created a feeling of tiredness.

“I think it’s more of a general malaise,” Harvey Feigenbaum, professor of politics and international affairs at George Washington University, told me. “The government has been in power for a long time, and although the prime minister’s party is probably the most popular party in the Netherlands, I suspect there is some weariness.”