After scenes of serious disorder caused by demonstrators in The Hague, seven people were arrested. The Hague is the administrative capital of the Netherlands where police were the target of anti-lockdown demonstrators who were throwing fireworks and setting fires. The rioting has come a day after police opened fire on protesters in Rotterdam who were also demonstrating against coronavirus restrictions
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and was the scene of a large protest on Friday evening that was described by its mayor as “an orgy of violence”.
Police opened fire on demonstrators on the streets of Rotterdam.
Three people were hit by bullets and investigations are now underway to establish if they were shot directly by police.
A police spokesman said that police fired warning shots and direct shots “because the situation was life-threatening”.
READ MORE: Quad bike driver’s 60mph ‘wheelie’ leaves girlfriend seriously hurt
Tens of thousands of people also protested in Austria’s capital Vienna after the government announced a new national lockdown.
Many Austrians were incensed after the government announced plans to make vaccines compulsory in February 2022.
This would make Austria the first European country to make vaccination a legal requirement.
Brandishing national flags and banners reading “Freedom”, protesters shouted “Resistance!” and booed the police.
The director of the World Health Organisation Dr Hans Kluge told the BBC that lockdown restrictions needed to be tightened across Europe.
Speaking to the BBC he said: “COVID-19 has become once again the number one cause of mortality in our region.
“We know what needs to be done.”
He then went on to state that getting more people vaccinated, wearing masks, and using Covid passes were all measures that governments would need to consider.
Rupali Limaye, an associate scientist at Johns Hopkins University and an expert in vaccine communication said: “People can still get Covid, there can still be breakthrough infections, but the great news is if you have been vaccinated you are very much less likely to be hospitalised or have a severe infection”
More Stories
Scandal at the UN: Judge Ali Abdulla Al-Jusaiman at the Center of a Judicial Falsification Case
Naveed Warsi: a Pakistani Hero of Interfaith Dialogues
Spectacular event in Belgrade: Željko Mitrović made the Serbian-American Friendship Convoy born!