Anti-blockade protesters in the Netherlands set fire, looted shops and fought police for the third night in a row after riots were imposed – a mayor warning that the nation is “on its way to civil war”.
At least 184 people were arrested during the riots on Monday night, at least 10 policemen were injured, while police in some cities fought with water cannons and tear gas, officials said.
So far, insurgents have hit at least 20 cities in the Netherlands on Saturday, when the nation was forced to enter its first holiday after World War II.
“I haven’t seen so much violence in 40 years,” Koen Simmers of the NPB police union told Nieuwsuur.
Monday’s violence left traces of looted shops and burning cars in cities, including Rotterdam, The Hague and the capital Amsterdam, as well as in a nearby city, Haarlem, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
About 1,850 fines were imposed for violating the heel, along with nearly 200 arrests, officials told national broadcaster NOS.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has condemned the “unacceptable” uprising, saying most of the nation “With horror.”
“This has nothing to do with protesting or fighting for freedom. It is criminal violence and we will treat it as such, “he wrote on Twitter.
Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra said the nation “will not capitulate to a few idiots,” according to NOS.
Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus rejected the outrages’ claims that the violence was triggered by competition, telling the NOS that “you don’t have to raid a store for that.”
John Jorritsma, the mayor of Eindhoven, one of the cities most affected by the riots, called the “completely anarchist” herds “garbage.”
“I’m talking about freedom and dictatorship, but in the meantime they are demolishing the shops and the station here, setting fire to the cars and police officers in the station,” he told NOS.
“We are on the road to civil war,” he warned.
The weather – which forbids most workers, but essential, to leave from 21:00 to 04:30 – came because the Netherlands was already under the harshest measures since the beginning of the pandemic. Bars and restaurants had been closed since October, and non-essential schools and shops closed since December.
It also appeared as new infections seemed to subside – but it was implemented out of fear of spreading the highly contagious mutations that started in the UK.
Even before coverage, bars and restaurants were closed in October, and non-essential schools and shops were closed in December.
As of Tuesday morning, the Netherlands had recorded 966,194 confirmed coronavirus cases with 13,686 deaths – far fewer than many of its European neighbors, according to Johns Hopkins University.
With Post Wires