Preventing further riots top priority: Security Council

The mayors that head the 25 security regions in the country want to prevent this past weekend's riots from spreading to other cities, Hubert Bruls, mayor of Nijmegen and head of the Security Council, said to NOS ahead of the Council's weekly meeting.

"The disturbances in Eindhoven and Amsterdam seemed to ignite other groups of people in other places," Bruls said. Illegal protests in the two cities turned to rioting on Sunday afternoon. On Sunday evening there were disturbances and unrest in about a dozen municipalities. "It will be a key point in our discussions on Monday to ensure that it does not spill over to other places. We have to stop this quickly."

Bruls had nothing but praise for the police officers and how they intervened in the riots on Sunday. Like Prime Minister Mark Rutte before him, Bruls said that the riots had little to do with Dutch who want to peacefully express their dissatisfaction with the measures in place against the coronavirus. "These rioters are people who attack society in an unheard of way," he said. 

Bruls called on people who feel the need to express their dissatisfaction to not do so by means of demonstration at this moment in time. The mayors do not want to prohibit the fundamental right to demonstrate. "But even if you are of good will: know what you are getting into with such a protest. At the moment, such an anti-corona protest cannot be organized properly in a controlled manner."

The Security Council, which consists of the mayors that head the security regions, is meeting in the afternoon instead of the evening on Monday, because the mayors too have to be home in time for curfew.