Dutch appeals court upholds curfew against virus

Dutch caretaker prime minister Mark Rutte has won temporarily after appellate judges ruled on Tuesday night that the government nighttime curfew rules would remain in place after a district court found it illegal in the morning.

The district court in The Hague said the government curfew was imposed by an emergency law when there was no "acute emergency" and it has breached the right to free movement, privacy and limited the right to freedom of assembly. It told the government to lift the curfew immediately.

The local court argued fears of increased infection because of the variant first identified in the UK were not valid since no curfew was imposed last year when pressure on hospitals in the country was far greater.

At the government's urgent request, a three-judge appellate panel in The Hague agreed shortly before the 9 pm curfew to suspend the district court ruling, pending the outcome of the government appeal to be heard on Friday.

The 9 pm to 4:30 am curfew was imposed since Jan 23 and extended last week until at least Mar 3. The first nationwide curfew since the end of the World War II triggered days of riots in several cities in late January.

Presiding Judge Marie-Anne Tande Sonnaville said in the appellate panel ruling the interests of the state in fighting the virus "carry more weight" than those of the anti-lockdown group behind the lawsuit, referring to the campaign group Viruswaarheid, known as Virus Truth.

Urgency remains

Before its decision, the panel summoned the country's leading infectious disease official Jaap van Dissel, who confirmed the urgency for the curfew to remain to contain the spread of the virus.

According to the National Institute for Public Health, more than two-thirds of new COVID-19 cases in the Netherlands involve the variant first detected in the UK.

The Netherlands, with a population of 17.5 million, has reported more than 1 million infections and 15,000 deaths, the World Health Organization said. The average daily new cases in the seven days to Sunday stood at about 3,500.

"I want to ask everyone in the country to keep to the curfew," Rutte said in reaction to the decision. "The good news is that the curfew will remain in place."

Before the appellate panel decision, Rutte had asked people to stick to the curfew even if the appeal does not lead to the suspension of the district court ruling.

Agencies contributed to this story.