Police fire gunshots: seven people injured after a protest in Rotterdam

Police officers fire shots
Seven injured after a protest in Rotterdam

The escalated demonstration against the Corona measures in Rotterdam shocked Dutch politics. More than 50 participants are arrested. But the police operation is also to be investigated: Due to the threat situation, officials probably took up firearms.

Burned-out cars, charred bicycles, streets littered with stones and glass: the inner stand of Rotterdam offers a picture of the devastation on the morning after the violent Corona riots that night. “It was an orgy of violence,” said Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb.

An unannounced demonstration against corona measures got totally out of hand during the night. According to the mayor, the police felt so threatened that officials even took up firearms. Preliminary results: seven injured, more than 50 arrests, damage of a previously unknown amount. The day after, there is horror and indignation.

There are still many unanswered questions about the explosion of violence. The judiciary announced further arrests, but also extensive investigations into the use of weapons by the police. Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus spoke of “extreme violence against the police, emergency services and firefighters”. Journalists were also attacked. “That has nothing to do with demonstrating,” said Grapperhaus. “This is just criminal behavior.”

On late Friday evening, a few hundred people demonstrated against possible tightening of the corona measures in the center of the port city. The demonstration had not been registered. Reporters reported that soccer hooligans had also come to the Coolsingel in the center. Stones and fireworks were pelted at the police, cars were set on fire, and traffic signs were torn from the ground. The Minister of Justice spoke of targeted attacks on police officers.

Use of firearms by officials

According to their own account, the police first fired warning shots and then shot people in a targeted manner. According to a spokesman for the police union, this happened in at least two cases. “Police officers were cornered and trapped by a larger group of rioters,” said Jan Struijs from the union to the TV broadcaster NOS about the first case. In the second case, officials from the fire brigade came to the rescue, which had been attacked. The officers targeted the attackers’ legs. In the Netherlands, the police rarely use firearms when there is a riot. It is still unclear how many people were hit by police bullets and how badly they were injured.

The police are also said to have been injured. At least one journalist was also attacked and injured by rioters. The Rotterdam police had requested reinforcements that evening. Several hundred officials came to the port city from all over the country. The mayor issued an emergency ordinance. The train service to and from Rotterdam has been temporarily suspended. At 1.30 a.m., the situation had become manageable, the police reported.

Outrage in the population

The TV broadcaster NOS showed pictures of the violence: a police car burns, flames blaze, gunshots can be heard, fireworks explode. Videos of injured people can be seen on social networks. Politicians were appalled at the extent of the violence. Citizens reacted indignantly. “It has nothing to do with demonstrating,” complained a woman on Dutch television. One man called the rioters “scum”. One woman said: “Rotterdamers cannot be proud of that. I am ashamed.”

The demonstration was directed against plans by the government to introduce the 2G rule for events and restaurants. Corona riots are not new in the Netherlands. There had already been a wave of violence in several cities in January after a curfew was imposed. Back then, too, Rotterdam was a center of violence.

Despite the excess of violence, opponents of the corona measures took to the streets again this Saturday in the Netherlands. A protest march made up of around 300 demonstrators passed through the city of Breda, near the Belgian border, holding up posters like “No lockdown”. Hundreds of people protested with Dutch flags in the center of Amsterdam. The organization United We Stand Europe had previously canceled a rally it had planned against the corona measures in Amsterdam. “Last night all hell broke loose in Rotterdam,” explained the group in support of the reason.

Last weekend, the Netherlands imposed a partial lockdown for an initial three weeks. But the number of new infections has recently remained at a record level. On Thursday, the authorities reported a record of more than 23,000 new infections within 24 hours, significantly more than the previous high of 13,000 in December last year.

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