THE HAGUE – The Dutch justice minister said Tuesday that people arrested amid three nights of rioting sparked by the country's coronavirus curfew will face swift prosecution.
Ferd Grapperhaus said rioters would be quickly brought before courts by public prosecutors and face possible prison terms if convicted. “They won't get away with it,” he told reporters in The Hague.
His comments came as the Netherlands is facing its worst civil unrest in years, initially triggered by anger at the country's tough lockdown, but increasingly fueled by calls for rioting swirling on social media.
The violence has stretched the police and led at times to the deployment of military police. Grapperhaus was speaking after a third night of rioting hit towns and