Until December, the Dutch government had bucked the authoritarian trend of most global authorities in their efforts to ‘crush’ the virus, but as cases, hospitalizations, and deaths began to soar, the government turned to harsher measures, and ultimately to the first curfew since WWII.
Yesterday was the first night of the newly enforced curfew and that crackdown sparked a backlash across the nation..
The violence climaxed with a group of rioting young people torching a coronavirus testing facility and threw fireworks at police in a Dutch fishing village.
Video from the village of Urk, 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Amsterdam, showed youths breaking into the COVID-19 testing facility near the village’s harbor before it was set ablaze Saturday night.
“This is not only unacceptable, but also a slap in the face, especially for the local health authority staff who do all they can at the test center to help people from Urk,” the local authorities said, promising to strictly enforce the curfew in the future.
The group was reportedly driving cars, honking horns, and waving national flags at the square, footage from the scene shows.
