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Dutch police open fire on Covid lockdown protesters as European nations reintroduce restrictions

Police opened fire on anti-lockdown protesters in the Dutch city of Rotterdam Friday ahead of demonstrations in several European cities against new Covid restrictions.

Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb told reporters about police officers "felt it necessary to draw their weapons to defend themselves" more than once after protesters tore through the city's central shopping district, setting fires in their wake.

Describing the scenes as "an orgy of violence," he added that “people were injured,” after officers "shot at protesters," although he could not provide information on the extent of their injuries.

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. Several arrests had been made, police said.

Image: An officer points at a burned car after violence erupted at a protest against the partial Covid lockdown in the Netherlands.

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.

The lockdown, which is set to last for at least three weeks, will see restaurants, bars and essential shops closing by 8 p.m. and non-essential retail shops and services shuttered by 6 p.m. Social gatherings in the home have also been limited to groups of four.

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.

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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.

Image: Demonstrators shout slogans and light flares during a demonstration against measures to battle the coronavirus pandemic in Vienna on Nov. 20, 2021.

Demonstrators shout slogans and light flares during a demonstration against measures to battle the coronavirus pandemic in Vienna on Saturday.Florian Schroetter / AP

Some of the protesters donned doctor's scrubs and others wore tinfoil hats as crowds chanted the word "Resistance" and blew whistles.

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As many as 1,300 officers were on duty, police said.

Austria will enter into a lockdown that could last up to 20 days on Monday, with most restaurants, bars, retail stores and entertainment venues closed. The country is also set to make vaccinations mandatory starting in February.

Image: Hundreds of people take part in a demonstration against the country's coronavirus restrictions in Vienna on Nov. 20, 2021.

Hundreds of people take part in a demonstration against the country's coronavirus restrictions in Vienna on Saturday.Lisa Leutner / AP

Meanwhile in France, where case numbers are also rising, demonstrators protested against the introduction of vaccine passports.

Other countries across the continent are also boosting restrictions or weighing the possibility of introducing new rules.

Germany announced Thursday that it would be stepping up coronavirus measures, restricting access to restaurants and other public spaces to those who have been vaccinated or have recovered from Covid in places where hospitalization rates are high.

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.

The World Health Organization has said Europe was the only region in the world that saw Covid-related deaths increase last week.

Dr. Hans Kluge, the director of the World Health Organization's Europe region also warned earlier this month that the region was "back at the epicenter of the pandemic."

One hundred thousand coronavirus deaths in the U.S. was the low estimate.

That figure, the bottom end of the Trump White House's best-picture scenario of 100,000 to 240,000 deaths, was reached in May 2020 after the virus spread across the United States. The Covid-19 death count matched the upper end of that figure in early November.

The death toll in the U.S. has eclipsed those of every other country.

Track the number of new reported deaths each day in the country and in the hardest-hit states. NBC News will update the data in these charts daily. See the number of new confirmed cases per day in each state here.

Since New York's first recorded death in March 2020, more than 50,000 of its people have died of Covid-19.

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