Dutch MPs give new curfew law the green light

Dutch lawmakers on Thursday approved a curfew law hastily introduced by the government to circumvent a court order that the measure must be lifted.

The nightime curfew began on January 23 and runs every night from 9:00pm to 4:30am. The government is due to decide next week whether to extend it past March 2.

The law will now go to the senate on Friday — the same day as an appeals court hears the government’s bid to overturn the lower court’s ruling.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte said his government would await the court’s decision, before bringing into effect the law to reinstate the curfew if the government loses.

“We are fighting one of the country’s biggest post-war crises. It directly affects our safety, directly affects our public health and thousands of people have died,” Rutte told MPs during a heated debate.

“We believe the curfew is necessary,” the Dutch premier said.

Rutte said he was “not optimistic” that the measure, the first since Nazi rule during World War II, would be eased soon.

A judge threw Rutte’s virus policy into disarray on Tuesday by ruling that the government improperly evoked emergency laws and must end the curfew immediately.

An appeals court suspended that order later on Tuesday, allowing the curfew to stay in place pending the full hearing on Friday.

Opposition MPs criticised the handling of the issue by Rutte — who is operating as caretaker PM until elections next month after his government resigned in January.

“This man, who sits there, acts as a dictator of the low countries,” said Tunahan Kuzu, leader of DENK, a party whose supporters are mainly of Turkish descent.

Far-right leader Geert Wilders meanwhile criticised the “unbridled arrogance” of Rutte for trying to rush the bill through parliament.

He compared it to the time it took for Rutte to resign last month, over a scandal about parents who were falsely accused of scamming welfare subsidies.

“Today we’ve seen the unbridled arrogance of Prime Minister Rutte, who invokes a disaster only so he can get his way,” Wilders said.