| A young man sets a motorcycle on fire in Rotterdam on November 20, 2021 (local time) amid intense anti-protests from the 19th onwards in the Netherlands, where regulations were again tightened in With Corona. © Reuters=News1 © News1 Reporter Choi Seo-yoon |
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has accused the demonstrators of being “idiots” on the 22nd (local time) as protests against the coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions in the Netherlands have turned violent.
According to the report, Prime Minister Rutte criticized the violent protests against the coronavirus, which are currently spreading in Rotterdam, as “violence disguised as a demonstration.”
He emphasized, “As the corona crisis prolongs, anxiety prevails in society. But we will never tolerate fools who use violence simply because they feel bad.”
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| Dutch Prime Minister Mark Lute announces the easing of quarantine measures at a press conference on the COVID-19 situation on June 18, 2021 (local time). Dutch national broadcaster (NOS) YouTube screen capture. |
The Dutch government has been easing the quarantine measures equivalent to with Corona for about two months, but has taken measures to restrict movement again from the 13th due to a surge in infections.
When the government announced a ban on public places for unvaccinated people, protests began to escalate, eventually leading to violence in Rotterdam on the night of the 19th.
Protesters, mainly young people, wore black clothes and took to the streets, throwing stones at police cars and ambulances, and set fires on some streets. In response, the police responded strongly with weapons, and about 30 people were arrested in just one day the previous day, and a total of 100 people were arrested in four days.
Another concern of the government is that the infection situation has not improved despite the rapid change in quarantine policy that triggered violent protests.
According to a report by the Dutch health authorities and Worldometer, an international statistical site, the Netherlands has maintained a daily number of confirmed cases of 23,000 and double-digit deaths for the past three days.
As a result, general hospitals are reducing regular treatment and making efforts to prepare for emergency treatment, but they are under pressure from saturation. The patient was also transferred to a nearby German hospital.
Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Yonghe said the situation in intensive care units and inpatient beds was “not the worst at the moment”, but that the government should impose more regulations to prevent saturation if infections and hospitalizations continue to rise.
sabi@news1.kr
