Dutch PM Rutte condemns riots against lockdown, curfew as "criminal"

Dutch police said on Monday hundreds had been detained after incidents including some where rioters threw rocks and in one case knives at police, burned down a Covid-19 testing station and warned there could be more to come.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte condemned a weekend in which rioters attacked police and set fires to protest the night-time curfew his government introduced on Saturday to slow the spread of coronavirus as "criminal".

"This has nothing to do with protest, this is criminal violence and we will treat it as such," Rutte told reporters outside his office in The Hague. (REUTERS)

Dutch police said on Monday hundreds had been detained after incidents including some where rioters threw rocks and in one case knives at police, burned down a Covid-19 testing station and warned there could be more to come.

"This has nothing to do with protest, this is criminal violence and we will treat it as such," Rutte told reporters outside his office in The Hague.