A right-wing demonstration in the Netherlands erupted into violence and chaos Saturday as rioters clashed with police and vandalized a political party’s office, just weeks before the country holds a general election.
Police used tear gas and a water cannon to disperse rioters who threw objects at officers and torched a police car. There was no immediate word on injuries or arrests. Dutch media showed rioters also attacking an office of a centrist political party, D66.
Dutch news agency ANP reported that a group of 1,500 anti-immigration protesters blocked the A12, a major highway that connects The Hague to the border of Germany.
“Scum. You keep your hands off political parties,” the party’s leader Rob Jetten, said in a message on X. “If you think you can intimidate us, tough luck. We will never let extremist rioters take our beautiful country away.”
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Some of the people in the crowd were carrying the Netherlands flag with an orange stripe instead of red, a symbol of the pre-war Dutch Nazi party (NSB), Jetten said.
“And all this in the name of ‘we are the Netherlands’. No,” the politician said. “This has nothing to do with the Netherlands. It is pure intimidation. Don’t let the loudmouths win. It is the positive forces that build a better country.”
A smaller group of rioters headed for the Dutch parliament complex, which is currently fenced off as it undergoes a yearslong renovation. Police prevented them entering the largely deserted area.
The violence erupted at a demonstration attended by hundreds of people, many of them wearing black and waving flags, that called for tougher asylum policies.
“Shocking and bizarre images of shameless violence in The Hague, after a demonstration got out of hand,” caretaker Prime Minister Dick Schoof wrote on X. He called the attacks on police and the D66 office “completely unacceptable” and expressed confidence that police and prosecutors would bring the rioters to justice.
The unrest comes weeks before an Oct. 29 general election that was called after anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders pulled his party out of the ruling coalition in a dispute over moves to rein in migration.
In a statement, Wilders condemned the rioters for blocking a highway and attacking police, calling them “idiots” and “scum.”
