A protest of several thousand people in The Hague on Saturday, demanding stricter asylum policies in the Netherlands, erupted into violent clashes with police.
The demonstration aimed to denounce immigration, call for tougher asylum rules, and protest against high housing costs in the country.
Among the crowd, Prince flags (coloured orange, white, and blue), Dutch imperial flags, were flown. Some associate the symbol with the NSB, the Nazi-collaborationist party during World War II.
Violence broke out when approximately 1,500 protesters attempted to block the A12 motorway. Police used water cannons to disperse them. The protest then escalated as some masked demonstrators attacked police with bottles, sticks, fireworks, and stones. A police car was even set on fire.
Windows of the headquarters of the social-liberal party D66 were smashed by the crowd. Journalists and photographers present at the scene faced harassment.
Police arrested around 30 people while two officers were injured during the unrest.
The violence received unanimous condemnation from Dutch political leaders. Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right PVV party, called the rioters “idiots.”
Rob Jetten, leader of D66, whose party headquarters was vandalised, also addressed the situation. “If you think you can intimidate us, you’ve failed. We won’t let extremist rioters take over our beautiful country,” he stated on X.
