(Belga) Thousands of people took to the streets of Amsterdam on Sunday to protest against government policy in the face of the coronavirus crisis. Some posters read “Back to normal now!” and “We’ve had enough of the lies.” About thirty farmers had even joined the Dutch capital in tractors.
The demonstration was organized by the collective “Nederland in Verzet” (“The Netherlands are resisting”). It was held in several areas of the city, notably on the vast esplanade in front of the Rijksmuseum. The activists wanted to commemorate the violent clashes that took place between demonstrators and law enforcement on January 17, an event renamed “The Battle of Coffee”. At the time, the demonstrators had gathered without authorization on this esplanade, already protesting against the management of the crisis and calling on the public to join them for “having a coffee”. The rally had degenerated into riots. On Sunday, Amsterdam authorities designated safe areas where protests were tolerated. The police force has been reinforced in these places. Mayor Femke Halsema invited protesters to respect the rules in force, otherwise the police would be forced to intervene. The Dutch government partially lifted a nationwide lockdown on Friday, but restaurants, cafes, museums, theaters and cinemas remain closed. The country recorded a record number of coronavirus contaminations on Saturday when 36,308 positive cases were noted by the Institute of Public Health (Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu). The previous record was recorded on Friday with already more than 35,000 infections. (Belga)
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