Pogroms as a new form of protest: why are cars burned and shop windows damaged in the Netherlands?
This week, footage of Dutch residents hitting shop windows, stealing goods, flipping cars and making fires in the streets has been circulating on the Internet. The reason for such aggressive protests was not only the curfew from 21:00 to 4:00, which was introduced in the country on January 23, but also the general fatigue of young people from the lockdown, which lasts almost a year in the country. Correspondent “MIR 24” directly from the Netherlands – about why one of the calmest nations in Europe came out to spoil private and state property.
On Sunday, January 24, residents of Amsterdam took to the city center with posters against lockdown, curfew and mandatory vaccinations. The action had to be peaceful and agreed with the government. However, the Dutch authorities banned the rally – after all, all public events in the country are prohibited. The introduction of the curfew came as a real surprise for the Dutch. Since November last year, the country has been under strict quarantine: everything is closed except grocery stores and pharmacies. From entertainment – only hotels and recreation parks where you can rent a house or apartment. The Dutch celebrated Christmas and New Years with these restrictions in mind.
I must say that the inhabitants of the Netherlands are an obedient nation, so if the law was introduced, only a few try to break it. When in January the number of patients with coronavirus began to decline, reaching 7,000-8,000 a day, citizens hoped for quick relief. However, Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced a curfew on January 19. According to the prime minister, “the government is worried and afraid of the rapid spread of the British strain of coronavirus,” therefore, with strict restrictions, it will have to live until at least February 9.
Based on polls in the Dutch media, almost no one in the country believes in the effectiveness of the curfew. Moreover, this could lead to an accelerated spread of the virus due to increased contacts during the daytime, local residents say. The protests against the restrictions have been taking place in the Netherlands since late spring, but they were all peaceful and not taken seriously by the government. Tension began to build up a week before the new restrictions, when the police used water cannons against the protesters. This time, the guards were clearly taken by surprise. In the capital of North Brabant – Eindhoven – protesters smashed the windows of the railway station, shop windows of the station supermarkets and shops, stole the cash register with money and even stole food. On this they did not rest: they turned over the police car and set it on fire. Passing police and government cars were thrown with stones, fireworks were thrown.
Another “hot spot” of the protest was the fishing village of Urk, with a rather dubious reputation. It is there that the largest drug smugglers are most often arrested. Young people broke into the coronavirus testing center and set it on fire, now the building is completely destroyed.
“A group of rioters acted tonight, breaking the peace order in Urk. With behavior beyond words. From throwing fireworks and stones to destroying police cars and setting fire to a test center. As dramatic as tonight is, I am ashamed of these events, ”Mayor Ses van den Boss said that evening.
After the first night of pogroms, Prime Minister Mark Rutte described the incident not as protests against the curfew, but as criminal violence.
“The violence that we have seen over the past weekend is unacceptable. This has nothing to do with protest. This is criminal violence and we will treat it accordingly. I have a lot of respect for the mayors, police and journalists who are trying to cover this. But 99% of the Netherlands is not against these measures and the curfew, only together we can cope with the coronavirus, ”he said.
Apparently, Rutte's words that 99% of the population is not against restrictive measures further angered the protesters. And on Monday, the telegram channels, where they discussed the pogroms, were quickly replenished with new participants. Young people got so excited that they discussed attacks on municipal buildings, administration, tax authorities and even banks. The participants urged each other not to rob small shops, but to focus on large chains and expensive boutiques, as they are well insured and will receive compensation. When the information became known to the police, the mayors of some cities introduced a state of emergency until February 9.
The protests on Monday, January 25, became even more violent. Young people themselves fought with the police, who were clearly in short supply, threw Molotov cocktails and robbed shops: both supermarkets and luxury stores with expensive perfumery and cosmetics. Jewelry stores were also attacked, where jewelry worth tens of thousands of euros was stolen. For civilians, this night became a real nightmare, they demanded the government to send an army. However, the Dutch authorities decided to do something more original. Football fans – hooligans were invited to defend the cities the next day. The pogroms came to naught instantly. However, despite this, in the evenings, the largest crowds of people can be observed on the streets of the Netherlands since the beginning of the lockdown. Police have already fined 4,000 people for violating curfews, and offenders seen in damage to property have received criminal fines.
So why did the inhabitants of the Netherlands decide to protest so violently? Most of them were young people under 25, who now can be called the most vulnerable group. They have not yet found a stable job and mostly worked under contract and in the service sector. Many were fired during the lockdown, and it is now almost impossible to find work in such an area. Statistics show that the unemployment rate in the Netherlands has decreased, but this applies to those specialties that allow you to work from home.
Back in the spring of 2020, Dutch sociologists sounded the alarm – young people under 30 feel abandoned and lonely, many experience stress and depression. Then Mark Rutte invited youth organizations to prepare a report on the problems young people are experiencing and what solutions they are proposing. It turned out that many are concerned about their career chances, the quality of online studies, future employment and lack of social contact. After the pogroms, Rutte promised to consider the youth proposals together with the ministers.
The protests quickly became a topic of political speculation. An election will take place in the Netherlands on March 17, in which citizens will vote for the new leading party in Parliament and, accordingly, a new prime minister. Right-wing parties are actively using the lockdown theme in their election campaigns. The largest opposition party PVV, led by Gert Wilders, strongly opposes the curfew, gaining additional points from the disgruntled Dutch. Another relatively new but successful right-wing party, FVD, has gone further – they promise to lift the curfew immediately after the elections if they win.
Thus, the Dutch parliament, which presupposes a coalition vote, has perhaps never been so close to the victory of the rightists, who advocate weakening the influence of the European Union in the country, right up to the exit, and for reducing migration. This is one of the reasons why the right-wingers are actively trying to shift the blame for the pogroms onto people from Muslim countries. However, the video clearly shows that Dutch youth also took an active part in the pogroms. Many provinces, such as the village of Jurk, the cities of Eindhoven or Den Bosch, are not at all popular with migrants from Arab countries. On February 2, a regular press conference will take place in the Netherlands, at which Prime Minister Mark Rutte will talk about further restrictions or relaxation in the country.
