Gov't appeals against curfew ruling

The Dutch government is appealing against a court ruling that the coronavirus curfew must be scrapped with immediate effect. The government asked the court that the curfew be maintained until the appeal ruling was made.

The request to maintain the curfew for the time being will appear in court at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, NOS reports. The appeal trial will be held at a later date.

Earlier on Tuesday, the court ruled that the curfew must be scrapped immediately in a lawsuit filed by protest group Viruswaarheid. The government implemented the curfew based on an emergency law, which states that the cabinet can introduce rules in an emergency without consultation with parliament and the Senate. But according to the court, the curfew was not for an emergency "as is the case with [something like] a dyke break". The fact that there was no emergency situation is apparent from the fact that the introduction of the curfew was discussed before it was introduced, the court said.

Viruswaarheid is happy with the victory, frontman Willem Engel said to NOS. "Our confidence previously fell to a minimum. This case was heard on Thursday. And there is already a verdict. Judge Hoekstra was to the point," he said.

So far Engel filed 12 cases against the Netherlands. This is the first one the anti-cornoavirus measures protest group won. "The first was against the lockdown. The government is still not providing evidence why this measure is needed. We have three more appeals pending," Engel said.