| schema:articleBody
| - In the strict Protestant town where the first Dutch coronavirus riots broke out, feelings are riding high as voting starts in elections focused on the government's handling of the pandemic. Posters and stickers for the populist, Covid-sceptic Forum for Democracy party are plastered in many places in Urk, a fishing community historically known for its hostility to vaccinations of all kinds. "I don't trust the government at all," says Robert, an 18-year-old who did not give his surname. "The Forum is for freedom, I like their point of view about the coronavirus, that's why I vote for them." Two weeks ago Urk warmly welcomed a visit by the Forum's young leader Thierry Baudet, who has added strong opposition to coronavirus rules and scepticism about vaccines to his usual anti-immigration policies. It was in Urk in January that the introduction of the Netherlands' first curfew since World War II sparked unrest, culminating in the burning down of a Covid testing centre. Violence then flared across the country for three more nights, the worst riots the country had seen in four decades. Urk is in the middle of the "Bible Belt" where the Dutch Orthodox Reformed Church holds sway and religion plays a strong part in daily life, alongside its traditional mainstay fishing industry. But whereas 94 percent of people regularly go to church, just 60 percent are vaccinated against measles, the second-lowest figure in the country. "Urk is an island originally. The island culture is still here, people are doing things their own way. They don't want to be blocked by the government," said Alwin Uitslag, a pastor in Urk. "They make decisions 200 kilometres (120 miles) away from here in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague but they have different problems to ours... We want to take care of our own daily needs and decide by ourselves what is safe and what isn't." Urk has traditionally been a stronghold for Christian parties like ChristianUnie and the SGP, but that could change in these elections. The Netherlands began three days of voting on Monday in elections that are expected to return liberal Prime Minister Mark Rutte to power. "Now you see that's due to the corona restrictions people are taking that in consideration before they go to vote. Therefore Forum for Democracy is getting attention," said Uitslag. The failure of the traditional Christian parties to fight to keep churches open during the pandemic weighed heavily with some voters. "I'm definitely not going to vote," said hardware shop owner Pieter Op' T Hof. "Now I see the persecution of Christians is also coming to the Netherlands. That's affecting us as Christians -- we can't do what the Bible and God are asking us to any more." But outside a local supermarket, a retired man who gave his name as Kobus said he did "not like coronavirus being used to win votes." "Coronavirus is something temporary. I hope in a year or two it will be gone, and it will not affect my voting," he said. pid/dk/tgb
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)