Dutch PM lashes out at ‘idiots’ after third night of violence

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday lashed out at “idiot” rioters who rampaged through cities across the Netherlands this weekend when protests against coronavirus policies turned violent.

More than 100 people were arrested during three nights of violence, which saw police open fire at rioters in Rotterdam on Friday.

“This was pure violence disguised as protest,” Rutte said in response to the worst disturbances since a full lockdown led to widespread disorder in January.

“There is a lot of unrest in society because we have been dealing with the misery of corona for so long. But I will never accept idiots using pure violence just because they are unhappy.”

Around 30 people were arrested on Sunday, following dozens of arrests on the previous two days, as mobs of angry youths set fires and threw rocks.

Black-clad groups pelted police vans with stones, and in The Hague a rock was thrown through the windshield of an ambulance trying to take a patient to hospital.

Violence began in Rotterdam on Friday night, as a protest against government plans to ban most people who have not been vaccinated from public places quickly turned violent.

Although some lockdown measures were reimposed in the Netherlands on Nov. 13, infections have surged.

This has forced Dutch hospitals to scale back regular treatment, and put pressure on the government to ensure care remains available for all urgent cases.

The Dutch association of healthcare workers, V&VN, have warned that the Netherlands is heading for a worst-case scenario where hospitals will not have enough intensive care beds for every patient that needs one.

Dutch health authorities on Monday reported over 23,000 new coronavirus infections in 24 hours, the second highest number since the start of the pandemic.

Health minister Hugo de Jonge stressed the country is “far removed” from the worst-case scenario. However, the government would consider more restrictions if infections and hospitalizations keep rising.

(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Giles Elgood)

COVID-19 unrest has created ‘explosive’ situation in Guadeloupe, says Macron

By Ricardo Arduengo

POINTE-A-PITRE, Guadeloupe (Reuters) -President Emmanuel Macron said violence in Guadeloupe over COVID-19 restrictions had created a “very explosive” situation, as a general strike entered a second week on Monday and many stores remained shuttered after nighttime looting.

Hours before Macron’s prime minister and lawmakers from the Caribbean archipelago were to hold crisis talks in Paris, there were signs of protests spreading to Martinique, another French overseas territory 190 km (120 miles) south of Guadeloupe.

The unrest erupted last week over COVID curbs imposed by Paris, including the mandatory vaccination of health workers and health pass rules, but it has also revealed a deeper discontent over the relationship between some overseas territories and metropolitan France.

“We must explain, explain, explain and convince, convince, convince, because one must not play around with the peoples’ health,” Macron told reporters in northern France.

France has deployed 200 extra police officers, including elite police commandos, to Guadeloupe to quell the unrest.

The streets of Guadeloupe’s main city, Point-a-Pitre, were unusually quiet on Monday after a fourth straight night of trouble that was less intense than previous nights. Burned out cars and debris littered streets and most shops remained closed.

Local police have arrested several dozen people and food stores and pharmacies have been looted. French media reported on Sunday that rioters had broken into an arms depot in Pointe-a-Pitre and taken rifles.

“We just don’t know how far this will still go,” the mayor of Point-a-Pitre told France Info radio.

Guadeloupe has been hit by violent protests before, but he said there were “big worries” on the island now because rioters had guns. Schools were closed on Monday.

In Martinique, roads around some of the main commercial and industrial zones were by trucks blocked at sunrise as unionized workers responded to a strike call, local media reported.

(Reporting by Ricardo Arduengo in Point-a-Pitre, Tassilo Hummel and Richard Lough in Paris; Editing by Christian Lowe and Giles Elgood)

Nearly 50 Palestinians wounded in ‘Catastrophe’ anniversary protests on Gaza-Israel border

Demonstrators hold Palestinian flags during a protest marking the 71st anniversary of the 'Nakba', or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands fled or were forced from their homes in the war surrounding Israel's independence in 1948, near the Israel-Gaza border fence, in the southern Gaza Strip May 15, 2019. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli troops wounded nearly 50 Palestinians at the Gaza border on Wednesday during protests to mark the 71st anniversary of the “Nakba”, or catastrophe, when many Palestinians lost their homes in the fighting around Israel’s creation, Gaza officials said.

Thousands had gathered at the coastal enclave’s frontier with Israel, the scene of bloodshed over the past year that has raised international concern.

Groups approached the border fence, planting Palestinian flags and throwing stones toward Israeli soldiers on the other side despite the efforts of marshalls in orange vests to keep protesters away from the barrier, witnesses said.

Israeli troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets to repel them, but also live ammunition, the witnesses said.

The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 47 people were wounded, though it was not clear how many of those were hit by live ammunition or were hurt by rubber bullets or by inhaling tear gas.

The Israeli military said about 10,000 rioters and demonstrators gathered in several places along the Gaza Strip fence.

“The rioters are setting tyres on fire and hurling rocks. A number of explosive devices have been hurled within the Gaza Strip, as well, and a number of attempts have been made to approach the security fence. IDF troops are responding with riot dispersal means.”

Wednesday’s rallies were called to mark Nakba Day, what Palestinians term the catastrophe that befell them at Israel’s creation in 1948, when hundreds of thousands fled or were expelled from lands in what is now Israel.

“Our people rise today to announce their rejection to this crime and to assert their right in Palestine, all of Palestine,” Islamic Jihad leader Khader Habib said at one demonstration, referring to Israel and the territories it captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

“Palestine is ours, the sea is ours, the sky is ours and the land is ours, and those strangers must be removed,” he said.

Another protester, Jamila Mahmoud, 50, said her family had originally come from Asqlan, now the Israeli city of Ashkelon, near Gaza.

“If we don’t return, maybe our children and grandchildren will do, one day we will get our rights back,” Mahmoud said at the border protest site.

Palestinians also held rallies in the occupied West Bank but no major clashes with Israeli forces were immediately reported.

This year’s Nakba protests were preceded by a surge in deadly cross-border fighting between Gaza militants and Israel which ended in a ceasefire on May 6.

Israeli troops have killed more than 200 Palestinians and wounded thousands in regular border protests since March 2018, according to human rights groups. U.N. investigators have said the Israeli military might be guilty of war crimes for using excessive force.

Israel has said it is defending its border against attacks against its troops and infiltration attempts by gunmen.

Israel has rejected a Palestinian right of return as a threat to maintaining a Jewish majority in a country it describes as the nation-state of the Jewish people.

Frustration is growing among Palestinians as hopes fade for a two-state solution to the conflict which would give them an independent country. President Donald Trump’s announcement in December 2017 of U.S. recognition of disputed Jerusalem as Israel’s capital also fueled Palestinian anger.

(Editing by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem and Angus MacSwan)