At least six police officers were injured early Sunday during clashes in The Hague between rival groups of Eritreans, who set fire to police cars and threw stones at law enforcement, police said.
She said she had made 13 arrests for this violence, and launched a call for witnesses and video images as part of her investigation.
Special police units fired tear gas at participants in the violence, who police said were groups of supporters or opponents of the Eritrean government, attending a meeting in The Hague.
“Very intense and very serious violence”
“During the riots, stones, fireworks and other objects were thrown at police officers and firefighters. Several rioters had weapons to beat people
,” police said.
Two police cars and a tourist bus were set on fire.
During the unrest, two police officers were injured in the hand, two in the teeth and the knee respectively, and another was hit by a police car in the confusion.
A sixth felt unwell because of the tear gas.
The suspects arrested are between 19 and 36 years old, police said in a press release.
“Our colleagues were confronted with very intense and very serious violence
,” said police commander Marielle van Vulpen.
“The violence exercised against police officers and their equipment is appalling and unacceptable
,” responded the city’s mayor, Jan van Zanen.
“Arrest and expel”
Far-right anti-immigration leader Geert Wilders posted images of the clashes on social media with a caption in capital letters:
“Arrest and deport”
.
“Why are half the world allowed to come here to destroy our country, fight among themselves, throw rocks at the police and set their cars on fire?”
,
he then wrote
on
.
Some 25,000 Eritrean nationals live in the Netherlands, according to official government figures.
Pro- and anti-government groups have clashed before, including last year when several people were stabbed before an event celebrating Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia.