Senay Boztas

The Netherlands is growing tired of lockdown restrictions

Protestors against the lockdown restrictions in Amsterdam (Photo: Getty)

On Wednesday at De Kleine Komedie, the oldest theatre in Amsterdam, the sound of comics on stage will be interspersed with the snips of scissors. Unable to open as a theatre due to the coronavirus restrictions, the comic actor Diederik Ebbinge
is defiantly converting the venue into a hairdressers for the day with customers able to watch live acts while they get their hair cut. Fellow comedian Sanne Wallis De Vries is asking theatres up and down the country to sign up and join their haircut theatre scheme on the same day.

In the latest phase of the Dutch lockdown, announced at a press conference on Friday night, from today gyms, shops and contact professions such as hairdressers are allowed to reopen until 5pm each day. The limited lifting of restrictions though now means you can go to a prostitute, but not to a concert hall. You can sweat at a gym, but not drown your sorrows at a bar stool with a jenever.

After being the only country in Europe to endure a month-long Christmas lockdown, the country’s mood is one of rage and rebellion. The head of the Dutch police union, Jan Struijs, expects a weekend of demonstrations and bars opening in defiance of the rules. Even groups of local mayors have said they won’t take enforcement action against businesses which ignore the measures.

Dutch politicians have made some woeful misjudgements in their management of the coronavirus pandemic. They threw the country open with far too little caution, and were then forced to yo-yo back into a stiff lockdown when infections spiked and intensive care units – with their relatively low capacity – were threatening to overrun.

After being the only country in Europe to endure a month-long Christmas lockdown, the country’s mood is one of rage and rebellion

It didn’t help that the government stood down over a domestic scandal in January 2021 and then it took 271 days after the elections in March to form a ‘new’ coalition (of the same four parties).

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in