Flu is not an excuse for tyranny – a poster in Amsterdam. Photo: DutchNews.nl
So who are the rioters who have taken to the streets all over the Netherlands for the past few days, and why are they rioting? Commentators and experts have been trying to attach some meaning to this week’s street violence.
Journalist Catherine Keyl, who was present at some of the squatters riots in Amsterdam 40 years ago and made a documentary about Urk, is in no doubt in the Telegraaf. ‘It’s too easy to call these people scum, or say they’re being held back through lack of opportunities, or that they simply don’t hold with authority,’ she wrote.