(Photos/video: Emile van Aelst).
The police arrested 23 demonstrators at the Jumbo supermarket on Stationsplein in Leiden on Sunday afternoon. These are people who were present at the housing protest on Lammermarkt earlier in the day and who subsequently caused various destruction in the city, according to a police spokesman.
The police were present with dozens of riot police and surrounded Jumbo supermarket. The protesters were then taken out one by one at the back of the store and arrested. It is not clear why the group entered the supermarket. Prior to the arrests, stones would have been thrown at the police on the Hooigracht, the police spokesperson said.
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Grim atmosphere
Found earlier in the afternoon in Leiden a housing protest Place. Action groups and political parties protested on the Lammermarkt against the current housing policy and the scarce number of available homes. The protest passed off peacefully, police said. After the demonstration on the Lammermarkt, the demonstrators marched through the city.
Some of the demonstrators – mostly dressed in black – reconvened on Van der Werfstraat, which the mayor saw as a new manifestation. It was banned and the police sent the protesters away. “After that, the atmosphere became grim and various destructions were done on the Hooigracht,” said the police.
Violence
According to resistance group Doorbraak.eu, one of the organizers of the housing protest, a building on Van der Werfstraat was squatted after the march through the city. The group of demonstrators, which according to the organization then consisted of about sixty people, then proceeded to the station where they were met by riot police.
The police have arrested 23 people for public assault and for not being able to show ID. The suspects have been transferred to several police stations where they will be questioned. At around 7.30 pm, calm had returned around the Jumbo supermarket.
The housing protest earlier on the Lammermarkt (photos: Chris de Waard):
