Dutch mayor calls curfew protesters “looters and thieves” after 3rd night of violence

The mayor of the Dutch town of 's-Hertogenbosch on Tuesday called the people who took part in a violent protest triggered by a night curfew aimed at curbing the coronavirus, “rioters, looters and thieves."

"After entering the city here, a number of them even visited the Jeroen Bosch Hospital to scare medical workers. It hurts, hurts for all of us," Jack Mikkers told a group of volunteers taking part in a cleaning effort with brooms and shovels.

Across the Netherlands, Dutch police detained more than 180 people in a third night of unrest in various cities, where roaming groups set fires, threw rocks and looted stores.

The first curfew since World War Two followed a warning by the National Institute for Health (RIVM) over a new wave of infections due to the "British variant" of the virus, and was imposed on Saturday despite weeks of declines in new infections.

Riot police with shields and batons were called out in more than 10 cities, many of which had issued emergency ordnance to provide officers with greater powers to conduct searches. Police scuffled with rioters in several cities late into the night, chasing them down narrow streets with vans or on foot as helicopters hovered overhead.

The country's death toll due to COVID-19 stands at 13,579, with 952,950 infections to date.

For more info, please go to http://www.globalnews.ca
Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: http://bit.ly/20fcXDc
Like Global News on Facebook HERE: http://bit.ly/255GMJQ
Follow Global News on Twitter HERE: http://bit.ly/1Toz8mt
Follow Global News on Instagram HERE: https://bit.ly/2QZaZIB
#Netherlands #Curfew #Coronavirus #GlobalNews