BRUSSELS -- Tens of thousands of people demonstrated through central Brussels on Sunday to protest reinforced covid-19 restrictions imposed by the Belgian government to counter the latest spike in coronavirus cases.
Many among the police estimate of 35,000 at the rally had already left for home when the demonstration descended into violence as several hundred people started pelting police, smashing cars and setting garbage bins ablaze. Police, responded with tear gas and water cannons and sought to restore order as dusk settled on the Belgian capital.
Three police officials and one demonstrator were injured in the clashes. In addition, 42 protesters were detained and two were arrested and charged in the violent rampage that followed the march, said police spokesperson Ilse Vande Keere.
The marchers came to protest the government's strong advice to get vaccinated and any possible moves to impose mandatory shots.
Shouting "Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!" and singing the anti-fascist song "Bella Ciao," protesters lined up behind a huge banner saying "Together for Freedom" and marched to the European Union headquarters. Amid the crowd, the signs varied from far-right insignia to the rainbow flags of the LGBT community.
The World Health Organization reported last week Europe was the latest hot spot of the pandemic, the only region in which covid-19 deaths were rising. The autumn surge of infections is overwhelming hospitals in many Central and Eastern European nations, including Ukraine, Russia, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Over the past several days, there have been many anti-vaccination marches in European nations as one government after another tightened measures. Dutch police arrested more than 30 people during unrest in The Hague and other towns in the Netherlands on Saturday, following much worse violence the previous night.
DUTCH UNREST GROWS
Dutch police have arrested more than 30 people during unrest in The Hague and other towns in the Netherlands that followed an "orgy of violence" the previous night at a protest against coronavirus restrictions.
The violence by groups of youths in The Hague and elsewhere Saturday night wasn't as serious as Friday night in Rotterdam, where police opened fire on rampaging rioters and arrested 51 people.
Police said Sunday that they arrested 19 people in The Hague and used a water cannon to extinguish a fire on a street.
Two soccer matches in the country's top professional league were briefly halted when fans -- banned from matches under a partial lockdown in force in the Netherlands for a week -- broke into stadiums in the towns of Alkmaar and Almelo.
In The Hague, police said five officers were injured as they tried to break up unrest by a group of youths who set at least two fires on streets and threw fireworks. Police said in a tweet that one rioter threw a rock at an ambulance carrying a patient to a hospital.
In the southern towns of Roermond and Stein, police said they arrested a total of 13 people for setting fires and throwing fireworks, and in the fishing village of Urk police arrested eight people for public order offenses, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported.
Earlier Saturday, two protests against covid-19 measures proceeded peacefully in Amsterdam and the southern city of Breda. Thousands of people marched through Amsterdam to protest covid-19 restrictions.
Police in Rotterdam said that three rioters were hit by bullets and investigations were underway to establish if they were shot by police on Friday night. The condition of the injured rioters wasn't disclosed.
Officers in Rotterdam arrested 51 people, about half of them minors, police said Saturday afternoon. One police officer was hospitalized with a leg injury sustained in the rioting, another was treated by ambulance staff and "countless" others suffered minor injuries.
Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb called the rioting in his city an "orgy of violence" and said that "on a number of occasions the police felt it necessary to draw their weapons to defend themselves."
Tens of thousands of protesters also took to the streets of Vienna on Saturday after the Austrian government announced a nationwide lockdown beginning Monday to contain skyrocketing coronavirus infections. Christmas markets in Vienna were packed Sunday with locals and tourists taking in the holiday sights before shops and food stalls are forced to close.
ISLAND PROTESTS ESCALATE
Residents in the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, an overseas territory of France, expressed dismay Sunday after protests against covid-19 restrictions erupted into rioting and looting for the third day in a row, prompting French authorities to send in police special forces.
Road blockades by protesters made traveling across the island nearly impossible Sunday. Firefighters reported 48 interventions overnight into Sunday morning. The island of 400,000 people has one of the lowest vaccination rates in France at 33%, compared with 75% across the country.
In Pointe-a-Pitre, the island's largest urban area, clashes left three people injured, including a 80-year-old woman hit by a bullet while on her balcony. A firefighter and a police officer were also injured and several shops were looted there and in other towns. A police station in Morne-a-l'Eau was set on fire.
Guadeloupe Prefect Alexandre Rochatte, who has imposed a nightly curfew from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m., said Sunday that 38 people were arrested overnight and denounced the "organized groups now seeking to sow chaos."
The protests were called for by unions to denounce France's covid-19 health pass, which is required to access restaurants and cafes, cultural venues, sport arenas and long-distance travel.
Demonstrators were also protesting France's mandatory vaccinations for health care workers. In recent days, they broadened their demands to include a general salary increase, higher unemployment benefits and the hiring of more teachers.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin denounced the violence as "unacceptable" in an interview Sunday with Le Parisien newspaper. He said 50 officers from police special forces were arriving Sunday in Guadeloupe, in addition to 200 other police sent earlier.
Darmanin said following an emergency meeting Saturday in Paris that "some shots have been fired against police officers" in Guadeloupe. He also said road blockades created a "very difficult situation for a few hours" during which patients and supplies couldn't reach hospitals.
Rochatte said some electrical facilities near dams have been damaged, which has caused some power outages, and urged people not to go near downed electrical cables.
Information for this article was contributed by Raf Casert, Mike Corder, Elodie Soupama and Sylvie Corbetof The Associated Press.
