Anti-lockdown protesters in the Netherlands set fires, looted shops and fought a third consecutive night of riots after a strict curfew was imposed – with a mayor warning that the country was ‘heading for a civil war’ .
At least 184 people were arrested during the ongoing riots, as at least ten cops were injured when police in some cities fought back with water cannons and tear gas.
So far, rioters have been cracking down on at least 20 cities and towns in the Netherlands since Saturday, when the country was forced into war for the first time since World War II.
“We have not seen so much violence in 40 years,” said Koen Simmers of the police union NPB in the television program Nieuwsuur.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), violence on Monday left a trail of looted shops and burned cars in cities, including Rotterdam, The Hague and the capital, Amsterdam, as well as a city near Haarlem.
About 1,850 fines were handed out for breaking the curfew along with the nearly 200 arrests, officials told national broadcaster NOS.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte condemns the ‘unacceptable’ uprising and says most of the country considers it “With horror.”
“It has nothing to do with protesting or fighting for freedom. it is criminal violence and we will handle it that way, ”he tweeted.
Minister of Finance, Wopke Hoekstra, said that according to NOS, the country will “not capitulate to a few idiots”.
Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus dismissed the protesters’ protest that the violence was caused by the curfew and told NOS that “you do not have to strip a shop for it.”
John Jorritsma, the mayor of Eindhoven, one of the cities hardest hit by the riots, calls the ‘completely anarchist crowd’ the ‘foam of the earth’.
“They talk about freedom and dictatorship, but in the meantime they are destroying the shops and the station here, setting cars and police officers on fire at the station,” he told NOS.
“We are heading for a civil war,” he warned.
The curfew – which prohibits most but essential workers from leaving from 21:00 to 04:30 – came because the Netherlands had been among the most difficult measures since the start of the pandemic. Bars and restaurants have been closed since October and schools and non-essential shops have closed since December.
It also came when new infections seemed to be dwindling – but were implemented for fear of spreading the many infectious mutations that had started in the UK.
Even before the curfew, pubs and restaurants had closed in October, and schools and non-essential shops had closed since December.
As of Tuesday morning, the Netherlands had 966,194 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 13,686 deaths – far fewer than many of its European neighbors, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
With Post Wires