(NL Times) The police arrested seven people during demonstrations around an asylum shelter in Hoofddorp on Wednesday evening. Earlier in the evening, Pegida leader Edwin Wagensveld burned a Koran at the center. Counter-demonstrators responded, throwing fireworks, stones, and traffic signs at the anti-asylum protesters and the police, NOS reports.
Things were restless in the neighborhood surrounding the shelter for the entire evening, a police spokesperson told NOS. Things calmed down somewhat at around 11:00 p.m., but the police remained in the area.
According to the broadcaster NH Nieuws, a small group of counter-protesters sought confrontation with the police, throwing burning fireworks, glassware, and stones. Wagensveld and another initiator of the Koran burning fled into a police station.
