Tear Gas and Protests Erupt at Van Gogh Museum – Anti-lockdown protests took place over the weekend in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The demonstrators were pushing back against a new emergency 9 p.m. curfew intended to curtail the spread of the coronavirus. The rally ended with tear gas and water canons shot into the crowd, which had gathered outside of the Van Gogh Museum. More than 100 people were arrested. (
Paris Artists Struggle Amid Lockdowns – The historic Place du Tertre in Paris is normally bustling with 250 artists who rent in the square to paint portraits of visitors, but the lack of tourism this past year has brought extremely hard times on these painters, portraitists, and caricaturists, and the square is virtually empty. Belle époque artists like Van Gogh, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, and Picasso all once lived and worked in the area, the so-called “artists square.” (