Dutch university students threw eggs and bottles at police as they took to the streets of The Hague in their thousands on Friday to protest against cuts in the education budget, police said.
"Riot and mounted police had to take action to restore order," police spokesman Wim Hoonhout told AFP, saying dozens of students who loitered in groups after an organised picket, had clashed with police. "They threw eggs, bottles and firecrackers," he said, adding there were no injuries in the unrest that lasted for about two hours.
Some demonstrators had also dropped a smoke bomb. Twenty-five arrests were made for vandalism, public violence and maltreatment of bystanders, said a police statement. The students were voicing their anger with government budget cuts.
What is most amazing is that the Netherlands Government of Mark Rutte on the one hand wants to cut the educational budget by euro 370 million and on the other hand is willing to finance a so called military supported "training mission" to Afghanistan at euro 468 million a year. The Association of Universities of the Netherlands has said it expected the budget cuts to cost the jobs of 2,500 university professors and lecturers next year.
EU-Digest
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