Rioting violence in The Netherlands over Coronavirus curfew continues

Riot police clashed with protestors in The Netherlands on Tuesday as opposition to the coronavirus curfew continued.

The prolonged riots which started on the weekend have been condemned by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who told reporters outside his office in The Hague that; “This has nothing to do with protesting, this is criminal violence and that’s how we will treat it.”

Police have reported that hundreds of people have been arrested.

The government recently introduced a night-time curfew which is in effect from 21.00 (20.00 GMT) to 04.30. Breachers of the restrictions are dealt hefty fines.

According to the John Hopkins University in the US, The Netherlands has had nearly one million confirmed Covid cases with more than 13,500 deaths.

Anti-lockdown protesters have looted stores and set fires with the police using a water cannon, dogs and mounted officers to disperse a protest in central Amsterdam on Sunday afternoon.

A worker boards up broken windows on a branch of supermarket chain Dirk van den Broek in Rotterdam, on January 25, 2021, after a second wave of riots in the Netherlands following the introduction of a coronavirus curfew over the weekend. – Riot police clashed with groups of protesters in Amsterdam as well as the port city of Rotterdam, Amersfoort in the east, and the small southern city of Geleen near Maastricht, police and Dutch news reports said. (Photo by Marco de Swart / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands OUT (Photo by MARCO DE SWART/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

Non-essential shops in the Netherlands have also been closed since mid- December with the closure of bars and restaurants taking effect two months earlier.

The Police Trade Union (NPD). have warned that more protests could lie ahead as the lockdown drags out and the Netherland’s vaccination program has been among the slowest in Europe.

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