Inside the Dutch anti-lockdown riots

Images of Dutch rioters throwing stones and fireworks at police, looting shops and facing water cannon have been published all around the world. This is not the typical image of a nation that likes to think of itself as nuchter and normaal — sober and sensible — in contrast to other parts of Europe, it sees as impulsive or, even worse, undemocratic. 

But in the last four nights, after the Netherlands imposed a 9 p.m. curfew to combat the spread of coronavirus, elements of the country appear to have gone entirely off-script. To the condemnation of national politicians, horrified businesses and huge numbers of normal people who have been in lockdown since October, thousands of youths across the country have turned peaceful protests into what Eindhoven mayor John Jorritsma said is ‘heading toward civil war’.

Dutch sociologists and criminologists, however, are not entirely surprised. The Netherlands is a country with a broad, libertarian notion of freedom, where the lockdowns have been mild up until now, partly because of basic rights entrenched in Dutch law.