At least seven people had been injured in the clashes, police said in a statement on Twitter, which added that officers had also been injured in the clashes.

The protests erupted after the Netherlands became the first western European nation to impose a partial lockdown since the summer as Covid cases soared across the country, reaching record numbers in recent days, with Thursday seeing 23,000 new infections recorded in a single day.

While the partial lockdown has sparked a backlash reminiscent of violent protests that broke out over Covid restrictions in the Netherlands back in January, the western European country is not alone in facing opposition to the return of Covid measures.

In Vienna, thousands of protesters took to the streets to rally against new Covid measures that will make Austria the first European country to enforce a full national lockdown this autumn, as well as new rules that will make vaccinations mandatory.

Meanwhile, Denmark has also been mulling the possibility of introducing new restrictions just over two months after it lifted its remaining Covid rules in September

Some nations, particularly in parts of eastern Europe, have blamed low vaccination uptake and high vaccine hesitancy for the resurgence of cases, while the lifting of restrictions and waning efficacy of Covid vaccines as countries look to roll out booster shots have also been blamed, particularly in nations with high vaccine uptake