Fresh unrest has erupted in the Netherlands against new lockdown rules amid rising Covid-19 cases in Europe.
People
hurled fireworks at police and set fire to bicycles in The Hague, one
night after protests in Rotterdam turned violent and police opened fire.
Thousands of demonstrators also took to the streets in Austria, Croatia and Italy as anger mounted over new curbs.
Demonstrations and unrest
In the Netherlands, a second night of riots broke out on Saturday in several towns and cities.
Hooded
rioters set fire to bicycles on the streets of The Hague, as riot
police used horses, dogs and batons to chase the crowds away. Officials
have announced an emergency order in the city, and at least seven people
were arrested.
Police said someone threw a rock through the window of a passing ambulance carrying a patient. Officers in the city tweeted that five police were injured, with one taken away by ambulance with a knee injury.
Elsewhere
in the country, two top-flight football matches were briefly halted
after supporters broke into the grounds and ran onto the pitch. Fans are
currently banned from stadiums because of new coronavirus rules.
The unrest follows a night of riots in Rotterdam
condemned by the city's mayor as "an orgy of violence". Police fired
warning shots and direct shots "because the situation was
life-threatening", a police spokesperson told Reuters news agency.
At
least three demonstrators are receiving hospital treatment for gunshot
wounds, officers said. Authorities have launched an investigation into
the incident.
The
Netherlands imposed a three-week partial lockdown last Saturday after
recording a record spike in Covid cases. Bars and restaurants must close
at 20:00, and crowds are banned at sports events.
Tens of thousands of people protested in Austria's capital Vienna after the government announced a new national lockdown and plans to make jabs compulsory in February 2022. It is 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
country will enter a 20-day nationwide lockdown from Monday, shutting
all but essential shops and ordering people to work from home.
In Croatia, thousands marched in the capital Zagreb to show their anger at mandatory vaccinations for public sector workers, while in Italy,
a few thousand protesters gathered at the ancient Circus Maximus
chariot-racing ground in Rome to oppose "Green Pass" certificates
required at workplaces, venues and on public transport.
French
authorities meanwhile are sending dozens more police officers to quell
unrest on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, a French overseas
department.
Overnight
riots saw looters ransack dozens of shops and set businesses alight
after protests against France's own Covid pass turned violent.
Interior
minister Gérald Darmanin said that some involved in the unrest used
"live ammunition" against law enforcement, and promised a "firm"
response to those committing public disorder.
