A protest against the temporary housing of asylum seekers in Loosdrecht, a village near the media city of Hilversum in the central Netherlands, turned violent on Tuesday evening when demonstrators threw fireworks and torches at a local government building, setting surrounding bushes ablaze. Rioters then blocked firefighters attempting to reach the scene, before riot police were deployed and the fire was eventually extinguished. The acting mayor of the municipality of Wijdemeren, Mark Verheijen, issued an emergency order, cleared the area, and imposed a exclusion zone around the building until Wednesday morning. Several people were arrested.

Fifteen asylum seekers — the first group of an eventual seventy set to be housed in a vacant section of the Wijdemeren municipal building — were inside during the unrest, along with staff and volunteers. None were injured, though Verheijen described the incident as