Netherlands:Protests Against Curfew Turn into Looting

Officers used water cannon and tear gas to clear demonstrators in Eindhoven. They had gathered in defiance of a new 21:00 (20:00 GMT) curfew.

Some protesters threw fireworks, looted supermarkets and smashed shop windows. There were smaller demonstrations in the capital, Amsterdam.

More than 100 people have been arrested.

Some of the demonstrators threw fireworks and grabbed bicycles to build barricades against the police, who eventually used tear gas to clear the streets.

Eindhoven, golf balls and fireworks were hurled at police in full riot gear, who eventually used tear gas to clear the crowds.

The scenes of violent unrest spread across the country: Amsterdam, Tilburg and Enschede, where young men threw stones at a hospital and torched a Covid testing centre.

National Security Council Chairman Hubert Bruls said that, while he understood the protesters' frustrations, the more the Dutch persevere now, the sooner they can get their freedoms back. He labelled those involved in the violence not demonstrators, but "corona hooligans".

Actually many see vaccines as the key, and the Netherlands is lagging behind there - last in the EU to roll out its vaccine programme, to date 77,000 people have been given their first dose.

At the start of the outbreak, the Dutch government resisted measures like masks and curfews, telling Dutch citizens they were sensible, rule-abiding and didn't need to be treated like children.

That sense of exceptionalism has come back to haunt them. Almost a year on, some people are struggling to do the mental pivot required to accept that the Netherlands has been forced to introduce draconian measures it initially dismissed.