Politicians and local officials condemned rioters who clashed with police in a dozen cities across the Netherlands on the second day of curfews due to the coronavirus.
"This is unacceptable. This has nothing to do with protests, this is criminal violence and we will treat it as such," Prime Minister Mark Rute said today.
The worst hit was the city of Eindhoven, where police clashed with hundreds of protesters on Sunday who set fire to a vehicle, threw stones and pyrotechnics at police, smashed windows and looted a convenience store at the train station.
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"My city is crying and so am I," said Eindhoven Mayor John Djoricma last night.
At an emotional press conference last night, he called the rioters "the scum of the world" and said that he fears that if this continues, they are on the road to civil war.
The riots broke out on the first weekend of a new 21pm to 4.30am curfew introduced to curb the spread of the coronavirus, but mayors of cities where the riots have been reported say the violence is not the work of citizens worried about their civil liberties.
There were riots in The Hague, Tilburg, Venlo, Helmond, Breda, Arnhem and Apeldoorn.
Police in Amsterdam arrested 190 people in riots at yesterday's banned demonstration, while at least 55 people were arrested in Eindhoven. One woman who was not involved in the riots was injured.
The police used batons and water cannons to disperse the demonstrators, who were protesting against measures against the coronavirus.
"These demonstrations are being hijacked by people who only want one thing, and that is riots," Nijmegen mayor Hubert Bruls told Op1 radio last night.
In the eastern city of Ensende, protesters threw stones at the windows of the hospital, on Saturday evening, young men in the fishing village of Urk set fire to a coronavirus testing facility.
Police in the southern province of Limburg said military police had been sent as reinforcements to the two towns.
"There is absolutely no excuse," said Overseas Development Minister Sigrid Kag, adding that it was violence and that she hoped the police would track down all the people and that they would be severely punished.
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