A demonstration against health measures scheduled for Saturday in Amsterdam was canceled after a violent riot broke out in Rotterdam on Friday evening, the organization announced. A demonstration against partial containment to fight the Covid-19 pandemic turned into a “riot” on Friday night in central Rotterdam, and dozens of people were arrested.
Demonstrators were protesting against health restrictions and the government’s plan to restrict access by unvaccinated people to certain sites. A demonstration planned in the southern city of Breda on Saturday is meanwhile maintained, according to local media. Several people have claimed on social media that someone died in the Rotterdam riot. “This was not reported either on our side or the National Directorate of Criminal Investigations,” retorted the Rotterdam police.
Scenes of chaos in Rotterdam
“Yesterday evening, all hell broke loose in Rotterdam,” anti-sanitary measures organization United We Stand Europe said on Facebook, referring to the chaos that erupted in the center of the port city on Friday evening, according to the reports. police at least seven injured, also among the police. Maintaining the demonstration in Amsterdam “did not seem fair to us”, stressed the organization United We Stand Europe, deploring the injuries of two demonstrators, which had also been announced by Dutch media.
“The riots and extreme violence against police, riot police and firefighters last night in Rotterdam are horrible to see,” Dutch Minister of Security and Justice Ferd Grapperhaus reacted on Saturday, lamenting the destruction ” considerable ”. “The men and women who take to the streets every day for our safety have been bombarded with stones and fireworks,” he said in a statement. “The police and the prosecution are doing everything to track down, prosecute and punish these rioters,” he said. .
“After major disturbances yesterday (…) the balance is now being established. There is a lot of damage, people have been injured and people are being held, ”local police said on Twitter Saturday morning. “Right now the full picture is being drawn up. The investigation into the rioters begins, ”she stressed.