These images of clashes and looting have toured social networks.
In the Netherlands and Denmark, the weekend was marked by violence on the sidelines of protests against health restrictions.
In several cities in the Netherlands, demonstrators were protesting in particular against the curfew implemented since Saturday to fight against the Covid-19 epidemic.
Dutch demonstrators protested against the introduction of a curfew.
AFP / Robin Van Lonkhuijsen
Incidents have been reported in Amsterdam, Eindhoven, The Hague, Breda, Arnhem, Tilburg, Enschede, Appeldoorn, Venlo and Ruremond.
A water cannon and police dogs were deployed on the Museumplein, a square in central Amsterdam, to disperse hundreds of protesters, according to public television NOS.
The demonstrators, who were not wearing the mask, gathered in Museumplein square.
AFP / Robin Van Lonkhuijsen
En we zijn los op het #museumplein in #Amsterdam pic.twitter.com/UM93BiGSFH
- Owen O'Brien (@_owenobrien_) January 24, 2021
Beelden van Ongehoord Nederland vanuit Eindhoven nadat iemand zojuist een voltreffer van een waterkanon kopte.
Volgens mij wilde de politie graag dat ze wegging.
Maar daar was ze het niet mee eens.
Hele livestream https://t.co/gxTdNZSD2Q pic.twitter.com/6hVaxB0b7n
- Jelmer Visser (@DieTukkerfries) January 24, 2021
At least 100 people were arrested on the sidelines of the rally said in a statement the city hall of Amsterdam, which estimates that around 1,500 demonstrators marched in the capital on Sunday.
190 Aanhoudingen na demonstratie op het Museumplein.
33 Aanhoudingen (waarvan 7 minderjarigen) voornamelijk terzake Openlijke geweldpleging. 142 aanhoudingen terzake overtreding van de APV en 15 aanhoudingen tz 184 Sr. (bevel of vordering) De laatste groepe worden zsm heengezonden pic.twitterva.comI2lPBB
- Politie Amsterdam eo (@Politie_Adam) January 24, 2021
According to local AT5 television, security has been stepped up around the official residence of Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema as the area has been cordoned off with a police cordon.
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In The Hague, in the Schilderswijk district, several fires were reported and a police officer was filmed fleeing in front of a group of people, according to public television NOS.
In Eindhoven, in the south of the country, the police used tear gas to disperse a crowd of several hundred people, according to regional television Omroep Brabant.
Clashes between police and demonstrators in a park in Eindhoven, on the sidelines of the anti-curfew demonstration.
AFP / Rob Engelaar
Several vehicles were set on fire and businesses in Eindhoven Central Station were looted, according to Omroep Brabant.
A store has been vandalized in front of Eindhoven station.
AFP / Rob Engelaar
đź”´ Eindhoven (Netherlands): a demonstration against the curfew imposed yesterday degenerates into looting pic.twitter.com/9rgpzhaiLd
- François Beaudonnet (@beaudonnet) January 24, 2021
“At least thirty people have been arrested,” Eindhoven police said, claiming they had no record of any injured.
"I think that if we go down this path, we are heading towards a civil war," Eindhoven Mayor John Jorritsma said on Sunday before television cameras, calling those present at the gathering "the dregs of society" and suggesting the need for army intervention.
A burnt down testing center
As the government-enforced national curfew came into effect, protesters also set fire to a Covid-19 testing center in Urk, in the north of the country, local authorities said.
Hollanda'da karantinayı protesto eden halk Covid-19 test merkezini ateşe verdi pic.twitter.com/tpNj5MahiT
- Politic TĂĽrk (@politicturk) January 24, 2021
“The fire in a screening center in Urk exceeds all limits,” Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said on Sunday.
The Netherlands began its first curfew since World War II on Saturday.
It is forbidden to leave your home between 9 p.m. and 4:30 a.m., at least until February 9.
Any offender incurs a fine of 95 euros.
Certain exemptions are possible, in particular for people returning from funerals or those having to work during the curfew, on condition that they present a certificate of displacement.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Wednesday that the decision to institute a curfew had been bolstered by the spread of the British variant of the coronavirus.
According to Mark Rutte, the curfew must avoid confinement, while since the start of the health crisis, the Dutch have never had to justify their movements.
In addition to having raised the opposition of certain deputies, including the leader of the extreme right Geert Wilders, the curfew arouses the anger of part of the population.
Arrests in Denmark
The same weekend, anti-restriction protests were also organized in Denmark.
Several hundred people gathered early Saturday evening before parading with torches through the Danish capital shouting "Freedom for Denmark, we've had enough!"
Against the anti-coronavirus measures taken by the executive.
Called "Men in Black Denmark", this active group on Facebook has been organizing demonstrations for more than a month against the "coercion" and "dictatorship" of the anti-Covid semi-containment in place in Denmark.
Protesters from the “Men in Black Denmark” group rallied against the “dictatorship” of semi-confinement in Denmark.
AFP / Mads Claus Rasmussen
Despite a radical tone of demonstrators dressed in black, most of the parade - which was authorized - took place in peace, with a large police cadre.
But tensions appeared during the dispersal of the demonstration, with in particular the throwing of bottles at the police.
Danish police have announced the arrest of three people suspected of having set a dummy bearing the image of the Danish Prime Minister on fire on the sidelines of this protest marked by new incidents in Copenhagen.
The three men, aged 30 to 34, are suspected of setting a mannequin on fire and have been the subject of a preliminary indictment on several grounds, including "attack on the government" and "threats" , police said in a statement.
Decked out with a wig and a photo of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on her face, the life-size doll was completed with a paper saying "she must be put to death".
Hoisted on a lamppost, it was then burned, according to videos of the incident broadcast by Danish media.
A doll bearing the likeness of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen bearing death threats was burned by protesters.
AFP / Mads Claus Rasmussen
"It is completely unacceptable to express such serious threats in a democracy, and I am therefore satisfied that the investigation has already led to arrests," Copenhagen Police Director Anne Tønnes said in a statement. communicated.
The incident, which was highly unusual in a demonstration in Denmark, also drew unanimous condemnation from the Danish political class.
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Five people had already been arrested for these overflows late Saturday evening.
Released, they remain prosecuted, according to the police.
The demonstration of the "Men in Black" two weeks ago was marked by greater violence, which resulted in clashes between the police and the demonstrators and about twenty arrests, including several remand in custody.
The emergence of the movement, even if the demonstrations remain limited to a few hundred people, raises fears of radicalization.
Non-essential shops, bars, restaurants and schools are notably closed right now in Denmark and the government has extended restrictions until at least February 7.
