Dutch police experience increased violence during the coronavirus crisis

Police have experienced more violence from members of the public than usual during the coronavirus crisis. 

At the beginning of the coronavirus crisis back in March, police actually noticed a drop in the amount of violence that they faced in comparison to February, before the whole crisis began. But in April, this has increased again, well beyond normal levels, NOS reports.

Coronaspugers are the main problem

The main type of violence police are dealing with at the moment is coronaspugers, people who spit or cough at police and threaten them with infection with coronavirus. This does seem to be decreasing again in May, but the level of violence police face is still 4% higher than usual.

More fines given out than usual

This may be due to the fines they have been giving out to people who are not obeying social distancing rules. Since the end of March, police have given out over 9000 fines for people who break the rules. There have also been 13,500 nuisance reports- incidents where people will call the police on neighbours or other people who are having a party or making noise.

Violence against police is on the increase in the Netherlands

However, violence against police has been on the increase in general in the Netherlands over the past few years. This is particularly true in relation to fireworks: in 2017 and 2018, police got attacked by fireworks 6 and 16 times respectively. In 2019 that went up to 94 times.

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Feature Image: Oxyman/Wikimedia Commons