On Sunday, thousands of protesters in the Netherlands demonstrated against the country’s coronavirus lockdown they say has been unfairly implemented and is economically devastating.
To prevent protesters from gathering, who carried banners that in Dutch read, “Love & Freedom: No Dictatorship,” trains headed to the city were halted. Several people were hurt and some 20 were arrested as COVID Cop squads, dressed in full military gear, shot water cannons into the crowd, and beat protesters with batons. (See a video of this from DutchNews.nl)
More of the Same
The country is conducting its general election, which began yesterday and will finish on Wednesday. Prime Minister Mark Rutte, known in the country as “Teflon Mark,” is expected to hold onto his seat and win his fourth term in office. The report said Rutte has faced violent protests over his lockdown mandates, but he is still popular in the country.
“People are overwhelmingly positive about Rutte—even if you don’t vote for him,” Mariken van der Velden, a professor of political communication at VU Amsterdam told DW.com. The news outlet pointed to a recent survey that showed 77 percent approved of his handling of the virus.
TREND FORECAST: Without new party movements – whether it be the Netherlands where images of Rutte read, “If you love the Netherlands, vote them out” or in the so-called democracy of the U.S. where the ruling class has squelched third party movements for centuries – there will no democratic change of substance that will return a semblance of “Power to the People.”
As evidenced by the draconian lockdown laws enforced on entire populations – regardless of their ineffectiveness in stopping the virus and their devastating socioeconomic effects, which have destroyed the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions – governments are doubling down on repression.
It was reported in The Guardian on Sunday, for example, that a new anti-protest sentencing bill is being rushed through the U.K. parliament, which gives militaristic power to the police to crack down on protesters, and, according to some 150 organizations, would be “an attack on some of the most fundamental rights of citizens.”
The new British military police model will be mirrored across continents. Considering how the vast majority of citizens have obeyed their COVID War leaders, there will be scant resistance.
