Dutch police use water cannon to clear anti-government protesters

Dutch police used water cannon and mounted officers to clear anti-government protesters in The Hague Sunday, the day before three days of voting starts in national elections.

Hundreds of demonstrators rallied in a park in the center of the city against Prime Minister Mark Rutte, with some also criticizing the coronavirus restrictions his government has put in place.

The demonstration was broken up after the protesters flouted social distancing rules and ignored police warnings to disperse.

Local media said several arrests were made during the clashes. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Dutch authorities had stopped train services to the city, the seat of government, to prevent more protesters arriving.

Police initially told people to go home and announced over loudspeakers that the event was over and warned that they would break up the protest by force if necessary.

Many in the crowd, gathered at the central Maliveld field in the city, were holding yellow umbrellas in a show of opposition and chanted "Love, freedom, stop dictatorship."

Officers in riot gear with shields, batons and dogs moved in after some of the protesters refused to leave at the end of the protest. Police on horseback then charged at the demonstrators.

Police finally fired water cannon but many of the demonstrators sheltered underneath umbrellas from the spray.

"Today it's mainly because we have elections next week and we don't want the same government again," Elsvis Vanheenst, 32, who is unemployed, told AFP.

"Because they are lying about everything and they are only working for themselves, and not for the people. So that's mainly why I'm here today."

The Netherlands goes to the polls on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in elections seen as a verdict on Rutte's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Polling has been spaced over three days to ensure social distancing and allow COVID-vulnerable people a chance to vote early.

Rutte and his liberal VVD party are on course to win another term at the head of a coalition government, according to opinion polls.

However anger at the imposition of the country's first curfew since World War II in January led to the worst riots the Netherlands has seen for decades.

A majority of voters reluctantly support the lockdown, given the Netherlands' current coronavirus infection rate which is towards the high end of Europe's range.

But the curfew, which has been extended until the end of March, prompted several days of rioting across the country when it was first imposed on Jan. 23.

"You can do some restrictions of course but you can limit it to the people who are vulnerable and weak in society," said Hans van der Arend, who travelled from the nearby port city of Rotterdam.

The country of 17 million has registered more than 1.1 million COVID-19 cases and more than 16,000 deaths in the pandemic.

(Source: Agencies)

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