Riots against lockdown in Europe

[Downriver]

The scenes of young people burning down a COVID testing facility in the Netherlands and burning the Danish PM at a stake in protest against lockdown have really shaken me. Would it happen here? Who is organising this? Fascists? Sometimes I read comments against lockdown on here and I think such a mood is being primed.

@Downriver

not the Left I know

There aren't many types of Left. What's the Left you know like?

Anarchic disruptors who come from across the political divide. Pointless ascribing political labels to them as a whole.

Also agree with TheQueef!

The Netherlands government has actually 'resigned' over a child welfare (financial) issue and is in a 'caretaker' role at the moment. There must be a lot of uncertainty there.

nomoremrniceguy thanks for local insight. I was pretty surprised at the Netherlands (‘of all places’ was my thought). Worrying.

Not surprised.
Every single person I know has had enough.

No. They would be prosecuted

And in the UK courts get what, a smack on the wrist?

Prosecution is hardly a deterrent these days.

@Downriver

But it is the fact it is young people that interests me

Yes, it's the young who are naive (with little knowledge of history) and being taken advantage of by extremist groups with their own political agenda

@thatgingergirl

There must be a lot of uncertainty there

Yes, this is being exploited most probably

I'm a bit surprised it's not happening more here too.
Not sure the whole "fascist" thing holds up.... Would have thought it would be libertarians from across the political spectrum.

Young people have been completely fucked over by all this, short term ( making socialising essentially illegal) having education messed up, and well as long term they are going to be feeling the effects of this for years.
I'm actually surprised more aren't taking to the streets both peacefully and violently. Tbh I would be (peacefully) too if I didn't know that a criminal record would ruin my career.

@NoMoreMrNiceGaius - very interesting to have your insights.

I'm not entirely surprised. People here think of the Netherlands as an immensely civilised country - tulips and canals and Amsterdam and Van Gogh (which in many, many respects it is - I love the country, have visited many times, have many friends there). But it also has massive pockets of urban deprivation, immense racial tensions in places, and political extremists on both sides of the spectrum. Plus a propensity to political deadlock.

I am laughing at the idea that the Netherlands' climate is somehow different from ours, though (are people imaging riots taking place in the balmy humid tropical evenings of a Dutch winter ?) Basically, whatever the weather in East Anglia is at any given moment, the weather in the Netherlands probably isn't far off!

in the UK there were riots over student tuition fees and the south London riots and looting were because of a man killed by the police. In both cases many of the people involved in the riots had nothing to do with the cause and just wanted to kick off, fight and/or loot. I can see that happening tbh.
Setting fire to a testing centre is a ridiculous response, one of my friends rants about how we should stop testing to make the problem go away, so she can see family again, I smile and nod

You can guarantee one thing if it does kick off. Mask compliance will be through the roof.

Boris will be proud of that at least!

No Cara I've enjoyed the Dutch climate many times.
I'm also a bit older and have lived through a few UK episodes of unrest, trust me when I say it's too cold.
Even during the miners strikes the picket would depend on the weather.
We're British.

Who’s protesting, errrm those that want their lives back, those that want their businesses open their children’s education to commence... is it that hard to understand people have had enough and don’t consider the two years (because it will be 2years) of sacrifices to be warranted...I’m starting to wonder too.

I assume many places have rent a riot type people, who escalate marches etc not caring what the actual protest is about

Some people are just plain stupid.

I’m in France and local Facebook posts from Paris have shown heartbreaking queues of students at food aid points every single day. They have moved into student accommodation only for their lectures to be cancelled or moved online and all hopes of getting a part time job in a bar, restaurant, cafe or tourist site to support themselves have gone since none of those places have been open since the end of October. No wonder young people have had enough. Macron has very recently said he will set up meals for one euro per day as part of the coronavirus financial help but that still leaves them with very little and not even any chance for the social aspect of attending university.
They know covid has little chance of affecting them and yet they are being held prisoner like the rest of society. I can totally understand it.

In the UK we do not and have never had lockdown. We have restrictions largely enforced by peer pressure and fear of the virus. Some other countries have curfews and also a quasi military police force that you do not disagree with. Not sure whether this applies in the Netherlands and Denmark though.

Fascist has just become this catch all racist term to use to label any group of white people who do something you don't agree with politically. It's messed up because real fascism is evil and it dilutes the meaning.

I think people have just had enough as already has been said. Especially young people who are essentially losing a year of their life and risk screwing up their future because the government can't figure out how to shield elderly people from a virus that has an average victim age of 83 years old.

In the UK we do not and have never had lockdown.

Why do people keep spouting this bollocks?

Because if we aren't under house arrest it isn’t a lockdown? Ffs.

It's very often the young who riot - they have less to lose in general. I wouldn't have rioted (I hope) but I might have attended a protest, even now when they're illegal, ten years ago. Now I have a job, a child and a mortgage, and I can't take the risk.

I don't believe it's fascists at all. Far more likely the far left taking advantage of the current dissatisfaction to push their Marxist agenda.

If it’s the Netherlands then they’re Dutch, not Danish.

@TheQueef

No Cara I've enjoyed the Dutch climate many times. I'm also a bit older and have lived through a few UK episodes of unrest, trust me when I say it's too cold. Even during the miners strikes the picket would depend on the weather. We're British.

Well ditto, remember the miner's strike in the 80s. Also have a criminologist friend who works on the relation between weather and crime (inc. rioting), and yes, in the UK and the USA riots happen in hot weather.

The point I was making was the weather is not significantly different between the UK and Netherlands (if anything, the Netherlands are a little colder in winter and a little warmer in summer). Dutch rioters must just be made of sterner stuff than UK rioters!

As is happening in the US.

Good for them.