A COVID-19 testing facility in the Netherlands was set on fire during riots on the first night of a strict new curfew – with police later using water cannons against protesters as violence raged on Sunday.
Local media video of Urk, a fishing village about 80 miles northeast of Amsterdam, showed a crowd breaking into the portable testing facility Saturday night and setting it on fire.
On Sunday morning, all that was left was a burnt-out grenade, and police said it came on a night when rioters threw stones and fireworks in an attempt to destroy police cars.
The violence came as a strict curfew – the country’s first since World War II – banned people from going out from 9:00 PM to 4:30 AM
At the beginning of Sunday, at least 25 people had been arrested and more than 3,600 people fined for violating curfews, police said.
That number was set to rise on Sunday when numerous riots broke out in several cities across the country.
In the Dutch capital of Amsterdam, police used a water cannon on Sunday to disperse demonstrators in a large square surrounded by museums, including one for the Dutch Impressionist master Van Gogh.
It was the same square where 143 people were arrested a week ago during similar protests. Mayor Femke Halsema called it a ‘risky zone’ to give the police the power to search people for weapons.
Police in Eindhoven also used a water cannon and tear gas against a crowd of hundreds of protesters, including supporters of the anti-immigrant group PEGIDA.
Eindhoven police said they had made at least 30 arrests by the end of the afternoon and warned people to stay out of the city center during the clashes. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Schools and non-essential shops in the Netherlands have been closed since mid-December, after bars and restaurants closed two months earlier.
Parliament voted to impose a curfew last week over fears that the highly contagious British mutation would cause an increase in the number of cases, even as new infections are generally on the decline.
Violators can be fined $ 115, and the only exceptions to the curfew include medical emergencies, people performing essential duties, and people walking their dogs. It lasts until at least February 9th.
On Sunday, the Netherlands had reported just over 960,000 infections with 13,646 deaths, far fewer than the hardest hit European countries such as the UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany, data from Johns Hopkins University showed.
With Post Wires