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Police arrest a man during a riot in Rotterdam
Photo:
MARCO DE SWART / AFP
The term "civil war" came up quickly when it came to describing the severe riot that held the Netherlands in suspense for three nights at the beginning of the week.
The pictures of burning cars in Eindhoven and The Hague, the attack on a police station in Rotterdam or on a corona test center in Urk showed a country in a state of emergency.
And yet "civil war" does not correctly describe the situation.
Because in the Netherlands it was not citizens who fought against citizens, but a phalanx of different groups against the police.
The dynamics of the riots apparently varied from place to place.
"Virus deniers, politically motivated protesters and young people who simply saw an opportunity to go nuts - all three groups came together," as the criminologist Henk Ferwerda told the Guardian, had rioted.
The protests against the curfew, which began last Saturday between 9 p.m. and 4.30 a.m., turned into the worst riot of the past 40 years in the Netherlands.
And right in the middle were right-wing soccer fans.
In Eindhoven in particular, hooligans are said to have been at work on the first two nights, on Saturday and Sunday.
"They came from all corners of the country, they met on social media," said Mayor of Eindhoven, John Jorritsma.
What's behind it?
Similar to Germany, the protests against the corona measures in the Netherlands are controlled by a wide variety of groups.
In addition to right-wing extremist small groups, right-wing populist Geert Wilders also raised the mood against the curfew.
Right-wing hooligans from Rotterdam, The Hague and Eindhoven, among others, took part in the demos and rallies in the summer.
This is also a parallel to other European countries such as Germany, where dozens of hooligans have been to demos in cities like Cottbus, Stuttgart or Berlin and in some cases even took over the stewardship.
The highlight was the "Querdenker" demonstration in Leipzig at the beginning of November, in which right-wing hooligans from Leipzig, Chemnitz, Halle and Zwickau blew up a police chain and thus beat the protesters through the city center.
There is no evidence that German hooligans were involved in the riot in the Netherlands.
According to a spokeswoman for the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of the Interior, there were calls in forums for right-wing hooligans to participate.
But one has no knowledge that this has also been implemented.
There are cross-links between Dutch and German hooligans, for example between Aachen and Maastricht.
At the international level, however, there has always been bitter hostility.
Other football fans opposed the rioters
The Dutch hooligan scene has traditionally been strong.
She has appeared at European and World Championships in the past, less and less recently, the leading figures are now getting on in years, but the traditional clubs PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord Rotterdam still have a solid core of right-wing fans.
The ultra scene, which in Germany sometimes restricts or prevents the influence of right-wing hooligans on the curves, is less influential in the Netherlands.
In recent riots in the Netherlands, football fans also opposed the rioters: At the beginning of the week, fans gathered in several cities such as Maastricht, Eindhoven, Tilburg and ›s Hertogenbosch to“ defend their stadiums and cities, ”as it was said.
Among the several hundred people arrested by the police, especially at the beginning of the week, there are mainly young people, alongside soccer hooligans.
One is said to be only 14 years old.
"And?
Woke up?
... Is it a good feeling to have destroyed your city? «The Mayor of Rotterdam Ahmed Aboutaleb asked the rioters on Twitter.
On the other hand, some quick judges in cities like The Hague, Middelburg and Breda had no more questions whatsoever, sentencing people arrested during the violent riots of recent days to prison terms and social hours.
In Amsterdam, the hooligan Bryan H. was convicted of being drunk at the time of the crime.
He was found to have a bag full of drugs.
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