Police clash with far-right protesters in The Hague

Dutch riot police clashed on Saturday with around 500 far-right protesters, who pelted them with fireworks and other projectiles after chanting anti-Semitic slogans at a rally in the centre of The Hague.

Police used baton charges and specialist dogs to break up the demonstration, according to AFP reporters on the scene, after authorities banned a planned march through the city when the violence erupted.

Police said they arrested 24 people and deployed water cannon to disperse the rioters. Further investigations were underway, they said.

Prime Minister Rob Jetten said on X that the demonstrators deliberately sought confrontation with the police and chanted "abhorrent" far-right and anti-Semitic slogans.

Justice Minister David van Weel also responded on X saying, "it is important that firm action is taken" against the scenes at the demonstration, which included "Hitler salutes, anti-Semitic slogans, violence against the police and throwing fireworks at the riot squad".

The "We Are The People" rally was called to protest against government policy, specifically on immigration.

The protesters had planned to march through the city but local authorities banned this when violence broke out in the park where they were gathering and ordered the demonstration be broken up.

"We're losing our country. We're literally losing our country to mass migration," one protester, 31-year-old mechanic Thijs Jansen, told AFP.