Clashes during anti-lockdown demonstrations / Argentina News

Protests in European countries against the new Covid-19 restrictions turned violent over the weekend while cases continue to increase on the continent.

Riots broke out in The Hague on Saturday over new coronavirus measures from the Netherlands government. A video shows riot police deploying water cannons and confronting groups of protesters.

Netherlands it reimposed three weeks of partial lockdown last Saturday and now plans to ban unvaccinated people from entering some places, notes CNN.

Violent clashes during demonstrations against lockdowns in Europe

Five policemen were injured during the clashes in The Hague. One was rushed to the hospital with a concussion and two suffered hearing damage from loud fireworks, police said in a statement.

“The group started fires, committed destruction, attacked motorists and threw stones and heavy fireworks to the officers, “the police said. He also confirmed that 19 arrests were made.

They added that a protester threw a stone through the window of an ambulance transporting a patient to a hospital.

Thousands of protesters attended a largely peaceful march in the capital Amsterdam on Saturday. The Dutch public broadcaster NOS also reported unrest in the city of Urk and cities in the southern province of Limburg. The protests follow violent clashes on Friday night in the port city of Rotterdam, during which the police were forced to shoot to disperse the crowd and 51 people were arrested.

Confinement: protests in Austria

On the other hand, it is estimated thatthat 40,000 people filled the streets of Vienna, Austria, Saturday in the country’s largest coronavirus-related protest to date. Police tried to stop the protest and when “spirits were about to rise,” they stopped fining those who did not wear masks, Franz Eigner, vice president of the Vienna police, said during a press conference on Sunday.

To some police officers they had been sprayed with “unidentified liquid” and protesters were trying to blind a helicopter with a laser, Eigner said.

Demonstrations against lockdowns in Europe

A small number of protesters was “extremely prone to violence”said Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer during the press conference, which he associated with the “far-right scene.”

Austria returned to a nationwide lockdown on Monday and will be the first country in Europe to make coronavirus vaccinations mandatory, starting in February next year.

More than 1,400 officers were deployed across the country to maintain public order, according to a police statement. Pepper spray was used in a “heated” protest in central Vienna, the police statement added.

While, France dispatched dozens of elite police and counter-terrorism agents to the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe on Saturday, following looting and arson overnight, in defiance of the night curfew.

The island’s prefect introduced the confinement order on Friday after protests against the vaccination passport ended in violence the night before. The Interior Ministry said 31 people had been arrested.

And around 15,000 people protested in Zagreb on Saturday against the Croatian government’s coronavirus measures. As of this Monday, only people with a Covid passport can enter government and public buildings in Croatia.