Bomb attack on Dutch Covid-19 test centre draws anger

A bomb attack on a Dutch coronavirus test centre shortly before it was to open was described as “insane” by the country’s health minister.

The pipe bomb exploded at 6.55am yesterday in the town of Bovenkarspel, 55 kilometres north of Amsterdam, shattering windows but causing no injuries to passers-by or the security guard on duty.

The attack happened weeks after a testing centre was burnt d own during riots across the Netherlands against a coronavirus curfew.

Officers said the explosion appeared to be deliberate.

“It’s not possible that this was by accident.

“The object was placed there and exploded near the front of the test centre,” a police spokesman said.

“We are not ruling anything out and can’t say anything about a motive.

“An investigation is under way. The bomb was a metal object somewhere between a tube and a canister.”

The GGD, the Dutch health service that runs the national testing programme, described the attack as “aggressive and intimidating vandalism”.

“Our people must be able to do this crucial work safely. This cowardly act of destruction affects us all,” GGD president Andre Rouvoet said on Twitter.

Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said public health authorities were “terribly shocked”.

“For over a year now, we have relied heavily on the people on the front lines. And then this. Insane,” he said.

The explosion comes two weeks before national elections on March 17, widely seen as a referendum on the government’s handling of the pandemic.

The region around Bovenkarspel is in the grips of one of the country’s worst Covid-19 outbreaks, with 181 cases for every 100,000 people, compared with about 27 for every 100,000 nationally.