Riots at the anti-corona demonstration in Amsterdam
Four officers were injured when several demonstrators tried to break a blockade by the riot police not far from Museum Square. In the evening the situation changed according to the authorities.
Four officers were injured when several demonstrators tried to break a blockade by the riot police not far from Museum Square. In the evening the situation changed according to the authorities.
The Netherlands are because of the rapid spread of the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus in a tough lockdown, which should last until at least mid-January.
Video footage showed police officers using batons against a group of women and men. The police said that the police said that there had been police on horseback against demonstrators who refused to leave the square. Police dogs were also used. The public broadcaster NOS reported that initially there was no information about injured demonstrators.
The clashes had started in the afternoon in the central square in front of the Rijksmuseum, a group of people dressed all in white chanted the slogan “This is not a dictatorship here”. Amsterdam’s mayor Femke Halsema from the GroenLinks (GrünLinks) party ordered the evacuation of the area surrounded by hundreds of riot police.
As the ANP news agency reported, most of the demonstrators immediately moved through parts of the city center to the more distant Westerpark district. There many of them took part in an approved rally of the right-wing populist party Forum for Democracy. Several hundred people later moved back to Museum Square. According to the information, they left him peacefully after their meeting, which the organizers described as “having coffee” together.
Even before the unauthorized demonstration in front of the Rijksmuseum began, around 200 people were denied access to the city, according to the police. Among them are several members of the defense groups who armed and ready to use violence should want to come to the museum square. (sda / dpa)
NOW – People who have been mistreated by police dogs and who have “unjustified protest” against Covid restrictions in. were beaten with batons #Amsterdam.@disclosetv pic.twitter.com/a4MpQnWCra
– Pman-News (@DPoertsch) January 2, 2022