Two injured as Dutch police fire on Covid-19 protestors

Two people are being treated at a hospital in the Dutch city of Rotterdam after Dutch police fired shots into a protest held against Covid-19 restrictions in the country according to media reports. The protestors became violent, torching cars and throwing fireworks during the incident.

Rotterdam police have stated that a total of 51 people were arrested on Saturday, over half of which were under 18. Dutch justice minister Ferd Grapperhaus said in a statement that the right to protest was extremely important to Dutch democracy but that such "extreme violence" against police and fire fighters in Rotterdam was "repulsive".

The protestors had gathered to protest a move by the government to restrict access to indoor venues to people who can produce a "corona pass". The pass is available to those who have been vaccinated, recovered from Covid-19 or who can produce test results showing that they do not have the virus. The Netherlands re-imposed some lockdown measures last weekend for an initial three weeks in an effort to slow a resurgence of coronavirus contagion, but daily infections have remained at their highest levels since the start of the pandemic.

The Rotterdam Police said that protesters lit fire in one of the city's main shopping streets, prompting the cops to fire water cannons to disperse the demonstrators. The city's mayor, Ahmed Aboutaleb, said protest had turned into "an orgy of violence" which forced police to draw their weapons and even fire direct shots he told a press conference early on Saturday.