Police in Netherlands clash with rioters in Eindhoven over coronavirus lockdown measures

Rioters set fires in the centre of the southern Dutch city of Eindhoven and pelted police with rocks at a banned demonstration against coronavirus lockdown measures, while officers responded with tear gas and water cannons, arresting at least 30 people.

It was the worst violence to hit the Netherlands since the pandemic began and the second straight Sunday that police clashed with protesters in Amsterdam.

The country has been in a tough lockdown since mid-December that is due to continue at least until February 9.

The crowd of hundreds of demonstrators was believed to include supporters of the anti-immigrant group PEGIDA, which had sought to demonstrate in the city.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The violence came a day after anti-curfew rioters torched a coronavirus testing facility in the Dutch fishing village of Urk.

Video from Urk, 80 kilometres north-east of Amsterdam, showed youths breaking into the coronavirus testing facility near the village’s harbour before it was set ablaze Saturday night.

The lockdown was imposed by the Dutch Government to rein in the spread of the more transmissible variant of the coronavirus.

Police said they fined more than 3,600 people nationwide for breaching the curfew that ran from 9:00pm, Saturday until 4:30am Sunday and arrested 25 people for breaching the curfew or for violence.

“This is not only unacceptable but also a slap in the face, especially for the local health authority staff who do all they can at the test centre to help people from Urk,” the local authorities said, adding that the curfew would be strictly enforced for the rest of the week.