Dutch police used water cannon and mounted officers to clear anti-government protesters in The Hague Sunday, the day before three days of voting starts in national elections, AFP journalists said.
Hundreds of demonstrators rallied in a park in the centre of the city against Prime Minister Mark Rutte, with some also criticising the coronavirus restrictions his government has put in place.
Officers in riot gear with shields, batons and dogs moved in after some of the protesters refused to leave at the end of the protest. Police on horseback then charged at the demonstrators.
Police finally fired water cannon but many of the demonstrators sheltered underneath umbrellas from the spray.
"Today it's mainly because we have elections next week and we don't want the same government again," Elsvis Vanheenst, 32, who is unemployed, told AFP.
"Because they are lying about everything and they are only working for themselves, and not for the people. So that's mainly why I'm here today."
Police had earlier tried to limit numbers at the protest because of coronavirus restrictions.
The Netherlands goes to the polls on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in elections seen as a verdict on Rutte's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Polling has been spaced over three days to ensure social distancing and allow Covid-vulnerable people a chance to vote early.
Rutte and his liberal VVD party are on course to win another term at the head of a coalition government, according to opinion polls.
However anger at the imposition of the country's first curfew since World War II in January led to the worst riots the Netherlands has seen for decades.
