Thirteen arrested at demonstration during coronavirus press conference

The police in The Hague arrested thirteen people on Tuesday evening during a demonstration at the Ministry of Justice in the city. In that building on Turfmarkt, caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Health) were holding a coronavirus press conference. The demonstrators were arrested for insulting and throwing stones and fireworks at police officers.

Earlier in the evening, the officers used a loudspeaker to call on the hundreds of protesters to go to Koekamp, but there was no response. The police drove the group, which had swelled to several hundred demonstrators, apart and back to Bezuidenhoutseweg, away from the Ministry. The police were pelted with heavy fireworks, smoke bombs, and other objects.

On Korte Voorhout, the riot police later also carried out a charge against several dozen demonstrators, who threw bricks in the process. Several arrests were made there.