Rotterdam police open fire as protest over Covid curbs turns violent, 7 injured

There is rising anger among the people as a number of European governments have started to reimpose limits on activity due to increasing cases of the coronavirus disease. Austria has already announced a full lockdown, while the Netherlands has resorted to partial lockdown.

Seven people were injured as the Dutch Police fired at the protesters on Friday night who were opposing stricter Covid-19 measures imposed by the Netherlands government, the Daily Mail reported. The incident took place at Rotterdam; however, it is not clear what type of ammunition was used by the police, the Mail report said.

In this image taken from video, demonstrators in Rotterdam protest against government Covid-19 restrictions on Friday. (AP Photo)

It quoted the local media to further say that 20 people were arrested.

The Rotterdam Police said that protesters lit fire in one of the city's main shopping streets, prompting the cops to fire water cannons to disperse the demostrators.

"A demonstration on the Coolsingel resulted in riots. Fires have been set in various places, fireworks are set off and the police have fired several (warning) shots. The police are present in large numbers and are trying to restore order. The ME has been deployed," the Rotterdam Police said on Twitter.

Several videos of the police firing in Rotterdam emerged on social media soon after the incident. One of them shows a person being shot, but its authenticity is yet to be ascertained.

There is rising anger among the people as a number of European governments have started to reimpose limits on activity due to increasing cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Austria has already announced a full lockdown, while the Netherlands has resorted to partial lockdown. There are restrictions on unvaccinated people in parts of Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Germany has said further measures will be decided based on when hospitalisation rates hit certain thresholds. In France, President Emmanuel Macron has made it clear he thinks high levels of vaccinations should be enough to avoid future lockdowns.

Britain, with higher numbers of infections than most countries in Europe, is rolling out third shots - or boosters - to offset waning protection from the first two and help keep the economy open.