Video: Riot police break up brawl at Turkish polling station in the RAI in Amsterdam
Police officers responded to the RAI in Amsterdam in large numbers on Sunday evening to break up a brawl that had broken out at a polling station for the Turkish election. The unrest started when the polling station closed at 9:00 p.m. Calm returned sometime after midnight. No one was arrested.
A spokesperson for the RAI told AT5 that supporters of different political parties clashed around 9:00 p.m. “All week, there has been a tense atmosphere in the elections in the RAI. Tonight that escalated. Extra security was already present.”
According to the spokesperson, it was not voters who caused disturbances but supporters of political parties who attended the elections.
The police responded in large numbers, with dozens of police officers using dogs and batons to break up the fight. Several ambulances also responded to the scene, and a police helicopter circled the area for hours. A taxi driver told AT5 he counted at least 30 police vehicles.
At around 11:00 p.m., dozens of people were still at the building. Some said they were still trying to vote. The riot police cleared everyone away at around 11:30 p.m., also detaining a group of Dutch-Turks on the nearby Rooseveltlaan to keep different groups apart.
Dutch-Turks could vote in Turkey's presidential and parliamentary elections at various polling stations in the Netherlands since last Saturday. The polling stations closed for the last time at 9:00 p.m. on Sunday.
