Ten people were reportedly arrested in two Dutch cities after protesters clashed with police on Sunday.
The Associated Press reports that at least 155 people have been arrested in the cities of Eindhoven and Amsterdam during two illegal protests that quickly turned violent when protesters attacked officers with stones.
The country is in the midst of an exclusion to stop the spread of COVID-19, which includes a daily curfew at 9pm and restrictions on occupancy levels in businesses and public spaces. The country has now seen two consecutive weekends of violence perpetrated by protesters against the closure.
According to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, several vehicles were set on fire near the main station in Eindhoven, which also reported that the police, including some on horseback, used tear gas, water cannons and police dogs to suppress the violence.
Dutch Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus said in a statement to the AP that the violence “had nothing to do with protests against corona[virus] measures. “
“It is merely criminal behavior; people who deliberately target the police, riot police, journalists and other aid workers, ”Grapperhaus said.
Sunday’s violence followed the burning of a COVID-19 test facility in a small town northeast of Amsterdam, according to the AP.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the Netherlands has seen just under 950,000 cases of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic and the number of new cases has dropped to an increase in December reaching nearly 10,000 new cases per day.