Saturday, December 06, 2025
32.0°F

Rioting youths in Dutch village torch virus testing center

Peter Dejong | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 10 months AGO
by Peter Dejong
| January 24, 2021 4:06 AM

URK, Netherlands (AP) — Rioting youths protesting on the first night of a Dutch curfew torched a coronavirus testing facility and threw fireworks at police in a Dutch fishing village.

Police said Sunday they fined more than 3,600 people nationwide for breaching the curfew that ran from 9 p.m. Saturday until 4:30 a.m. Sunday and arrested 25 people for breaching the curfew or for violence.

Video from the village of Urk, 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Amsterdam, showed youths breaking into the coronavirus testing facility near the village's harbor before it was set ablaze Saturday night.

The police and municipality issued a statement Sunday expressing their anger at rioting, “from throwing fireworks and stones to destroying police cars and with the torching of the test location as a deep point.”

“This is not only unacceptable, but also a slap in the face, especially for the local health authority staff who do all they can at the test center to help people from Urk,” the local authorities said, adding that the curfew would be strictly enforced for the rest of the week.

On Sunday, all that remained of the portable building used to administer coronavirus tests was a burned-out shell.

Police in Amsterdam also were bracing for another protest Sunday, sending officers to a square where demonstrators clashed with police a week ago. The city's municipality designated the square a “risk area,” a move that gave police extra powers to frisk people.

___

Associated Press writer Mike Corder contributed from Otterlo, Netherlands.

___

Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

ARTICLES BY PETER DEJONG

Tiptoe through Dutch tulips? Not in coronavirus crisis
March 26, 2020 10:56 a.m.

Tiptoe through Dutch tulips? Not in coronavirus crisis

LISSE, Netherlands (AP) — The manicured lawns and pathways winding the flower beds at the Keukenhof spring garden, normally crowded with thousands of visitors on any given sun-splashed spring day, were deserted Thursday.

Up in smoke: Coronavirus closures hit Dutch coffeeshops
March 15, 2020 3:49 p.m.

Up in smoke: Coronavirus closures hit Dutch coffeeshops

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Trade at Amsterdam’s famed weed-selling coffeeshops suddenly went up in smoke Sunday night after the government ordered them closed along with all other restaurants and bars in the latest move to rein in the spread of the coronavirus.

Tiptoe through Dutch tulips? Not in coronavirus crisis
March 26, 2020 1:56 p.m.

Tiptoe through Dutch tulips? Not in coronavirus crisis

LISSE, Netherlands (AP) — The manicured lawns and pathways winding the flower beds at the Keukenhof spring garden, normally crowded with thousands of visitors on any given sun-splashed spring day, were deserted Thursday.