Violence erupts at right-wing demonstration in the Netherlands ahead of election
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- Right-wing demonstrators clashed with police in The Hague, vandalizing a centrist party’s office and torching a police car ahead of the Netherlands’ elections next month.
- Police deployed tear gas and water cannons as demonstrations turn violent. Hundreds of protesters are demanding tougher asylum policies.
- The unrest comes weeks before elections were called after anti-Islamic leader Geert Wilders left the ruling coalition over migration disputes.
THE HAGUE — A right-wing demonstration in the Netherlands erupted into violence and chaos Saturday as protesters clashed with police and vandalized a political party’s office, with a general election just more than a month away.
Police used tear gas and a water cannon to disperse protesters who threw objects at officers and torched a police car. There was no immediate word on injuries or arrests. Dutch media showed protesters also attacking an office of a centrist political party, D66.
“Scum. You keep your hands off political parties,” D66 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.”
A smaller group of protesters headed for the Dutch parliament complex, which is fenced off as it undergoes a years-long renovation. Police prevented them from 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 stricter 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-Islamic 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 demonstrators for blocking a highway and attacking police, calling them “idiots” and “scum.”
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