{"id":44537,"date":"2021-01-26T01:23:18","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T01:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=44537"},"modified":"2021-01-26T01:23:18","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T01:23:18","slug":"netherlands-rocked-by-third-night-of-rioting-over-covid-curfew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=44537","title":{"rendered":"Netherlands rocked by third night of rioting over COVID curfew"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Police say at least 70 arrested after unrest and looting in towns and cities across the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Police in the Netherlands arrested at least 70 people after rioting broke out for a third night on Monday, following weekend protests triggered by anger over a nighttime curfew and lockdown imposed because of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

Riot police clashed with groups of protesters and used water cannon against looters in the port city of Rotterdam, where the mayor issued a decree broadening police powers of arrest.<\/p>\n

Tear gas was used to disperse crowds in Haarlem, as the unrest spread to smaller towns and cities including Amersfoort in the east, Geleen in the south, and The Hague.<\/p>\n

Police Chief Willem Woelders said on television that 70 arrests had taken place by approximately 10pm (21:00 GMT).<\/p>\n

Geleen police said in an earlier tweet that they were dealing with \u201crioting youths who are throwing fireworks\u201d.<\/p>\n

Earlier Prime Minister Mark Rutte had condemned what he called the \u201ccriminal violence<\/a>\u201d of the previous night, which police officials described as the \u201cworst rioting in 40 years\u201d.<\/p>\n

Police face a large group of young people on Beijerlandselaan in Rotterdam, after protesters again went on the rampage in several cities following the introduction of a coronavirus curfew over the weekend [Marco de Swart\/ANP via AFP]<\/figure>\n

The curfew, the first in the Netherlands since World War II, was imposed after the National Institute for Health (RIVM) warned of a new wave of cases due to the \u201cBritish variant\u201d of COVID-19, although numbers of new infections in the Netherlands have been declining for weeks. Some 4,129 new cases were reported on Monday, the lowest number since December 1.<\/p>\n

Violators of the 9pm (20:00 GMT) to 4:30am (03:30 GMT) curfew, which will remain in force until at least February 10, face a 95 euro ($115) fine.<\/p>\n

There are a number of exemptions including for people who have to work, attend funerals or walk their dogs, providing they present a certificate.<\/p>\n

The Netherlands was already under its toughest measures since the start of the pandemic, with bars and restaurants having closed in October, and schools and non-essential shops shut since December.<\/p>\n

Images posted on social media on Monday showed rioters looting a shop in Den Bosch and a press photographer being hit in the head in Haarlem, after an angry mob chased him off and threw a brick at him.<\/p>\n

Police Union chief Koen Simmers on Monday told broadcaster NOS that police were prepared should the rioting continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope it was a one-off, but I\u2019m afraid it could be a harbinger for the days and weeks to come,\u201d Simmers said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Police say at least 70 arrested after unrest and looting in towns and cities across the country.Police in the Netherlands arrested at least 70 people after rioting broke out for a third night on Monday, following weekend protests triggered by anger over a nighttime curfew and lockdown imposed because of the coronavirus. Riot police clashed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44537\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}