Daily US Times: Fresh protests have erupted in the Netherlands against new Covid-19 lockdown rules amid rising Covid-19 cases in Europe.
People set fire to bicycles and hurled fireworks at police in The Hague, one night after protests in Rotterdam turned violent and police opened fire.
Thousands of protesters also took to the streets in Austria, Croatia and Italy as anger mounted over new curbs.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was “very worried” about rising Covid infections on the continent.
Dr Hans Kluge, the regional director of WHO, told the BBC that unless measures were tightened across Europe, half a million more deaths could be recorded by next spring.
He said: “Covid-19 has become once again the number one cause of mortality in our region. We know what needs to be done in order to fight the virus – such as getting vaccinated, wearing masks, and using Covid passes.”
Many governments in Europe are bringing in new restrictions in a bid to tackle rising infections. A number of countries have recently reported record-high daily case numbers.
A second night of riots broke out in the Netherlands on Saturday in several towns and cities.
Hooded rioters set fire to bicycles on the streets of The Hague, as riot police used batons, horses and dogs to chase the crowds away. Officials have announced an emergency order in the city, and at least seven people were arrested.
According to police, someone threw a rock through the window of a passing ambulance carrying a patient. Five police officers were injured, with one taken away by ambulance with a knee injury.
Elsewhere in the Netherlands, two top-flight football matches were briefly halted after supporters broke into the grounds and ran onto the pitch. Fans are currently banned from stadiums because of new coronavirus rules.
The unrest follows a night of riots in Rotterdam condemned by the city’s mayor as “an orgy of violence”. Police fired warning shots and direct shots “because the situation was life-threatening”, a police spokesperson told Reuters news agency.
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