Anti-immigration riot arrest total hits 37, four police hurt
Police said on Sunday that 37 people were arrested during Saturday’s rioting at an anti-immigration demonstration in the centre of The Hague, and 27 of them remain in custody.
Four police officers, rather than two, were also injured in the fighting, according to a police statement. “More than 1,000 rioters split off from the main demonstration against asylum policy,” the statement said. “They did not shy away from using violence against the police, journalists and their surroundings.”
The police have now launched an investigation to try to identify other rioters and have appealed for photos and camera footage to help with their inquiries.
Police used water cannon and tear gas to break up the group, who set fire to a police car, attacked the offices of political party D66, and attempted to storm the parliamentary complex which is currently closed for renovations.
The Hague mayor Jan van Zanen had earlier said the rioters were “hooligans” who had come from “all over the country and deliberately sought confrontation with the police.”
But D66 leader Rob Jetten told a television current affairs show on Sunday it was wrong to say football hooligans were behind the trouble. “They were not shouting ‘go ADO’ or ‘go FC Utrecht,’ but they were chanting about taking back the Netherlands,” he said.
Some of the demonstrators were also carrying the “prinsen” flag, which has become a symbol of the far right and was used by the Dutch Nazi party during WWII. Others were heard to shout antisemitic slogans and do Nazi salutes, broadcaster NOS said.
One waitress at a cafe which was overrun by rioters told NOS the gang were shouting “get rid of the foreigners” and “Sieg Heil”. One waitress trying to protect a guest was tazered by a rioter, she said. “It was traumatic.”
The demonstration was organised by a young woman who calls herself Els Rechts, or right-wing Els and is a big fan of far-right leader Geert Wilders. Els told reporters she is “shocked” that her “peaceful protest” had been taken over and that she would never have organised it if she had known what would happen.
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