Fresh Covid Demos In Riot-hit Netherlands

Breda, Netherlands, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Nov, 2021 ) :Dutch coronavirus demonstrators held fresh rallies on Saturday, a day after 51 people were arrested in an "orgy of violence" in Rotterdam that left two people in hospital with bullet wounds.

The Netherlands went back into Western Europe's first partial lockdown of the winter last Saturday with at least three weeks of curbs, and is now planning to ban unvaccinated people from entering some venues.

A few hundred protesters angered at the latest measures gathered in Amsterdam on Saturday and a similar number marched through the southern city of Breda.

It followed the Rotterdam unrest where police said they had fired both warning and targeted shots and used water cannon.

"Fifty-one people were arrested during the major disturbances on Friday evening and night on Coolsingel (street) in Rotterdam . About half of them were just underage," Rotterdam police said in a tweet.

The rioters came from different parts of the country, they said.

Police were still searching for more suspects.

"Two rioters were injured when they were hit by a bullet. They are still in the hospital," the police said, adding that the Dutch national criminal investigation department would probe "whether the injuries were caused by police bullets".

A policeman was also taken to hospital with leg injuries while several other officers were hurt or suffered hearing damage because of large fireworks set off by the rioters, police said.

Police had said earlier that they fired several warning shots but that "at one point the situation became so dangerous that officers felt compelled to shoot at targets".

They dismissed rumours on social media that someone had died during the violence in Rotterdam.

The city's mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb denounced an "orgy of violence", adding: "The police have felt the need to draw a police weapon in the end to defend themselves."