Clashes erupted last 18 January in a small Dutch town during violent protests against the planned opening of a center for asylum seekers, Dutch media and officials said.
In a repeat of scenes seen in several Dutch towns and villages since late last year amid growing tensions over record numbers of migrants, police intervened to disperse about 1,000 people who rallied in central Heesch.
It was not immediately clear from police how many people had been arrested and whether anyone was injured.
The riot came only hours after populist far-right politician Geert Wilders called for Islamic male refugees to be kept locked up in asylum centers, saying such a move was needed to protect Dutch women after the New Year's Eve assaults in Cologne, Germany.
For everyone, it makes sense. Why would the government entertain grown men who are of fighting age when they could have stayed in their home country and fight.
A Facebook page "Protest AZC Heesch" - which had over 3,000 likes - had called for supporters to join a rally from 7:00 P.M. (1800 GMT) outside the town hall in Heesch. "AZC" is Dutch shorthand for an asylum seekers centre.
Town officials aimed to hold a public meeting around 8:00 P.M.(1900 GMT) to discuss plans to house some 500 refugees in the town over the next ten years.
But the atmosphere turned nasty, and the meeting was abandoned as dozens of protesters tried to storm the town hall, the Dutch news agency ANP said.
A group of protesters threw fireworks and eggs at the building which was evacuated, sources told ANP.
A message posted on the town's website from the mayor, Marieke Moorman, said the town "had given police extra powers" after a "demonstration ran out of control."
Police restored calm later in the evening.
In a repeat of scenes seen in several Dutch towns and villages since late last year amid growing tensions over record numbers of migrants, police intervened to disperse about 1,000 people who rallied in central Heesch.
It was not immediately clear from police how many people had been arrested and whether anyone was injured.
The riot came only hours after populist far-right politician Geert Wilders called for Islamic male refugees to be kept locked up in asylum centers, saying such a move was needed to protect Dutch women after the New Year's Eve assaults in Cologne, Germany.
For everyone, it makes sense. Why would the government entertain grown men who are of fighting age when they could have stayed in their home country and fight.
A Facebook page "Protest AZC Heesch" - which had over 3,000 likes - had called for supporters to join a rally from 7:00 P.M. (1800 GMT) outside the town hall in Heesch. "AZC" is Dutch shorthand for an asylum seekers centre.
Town officials aimed to hold a public meeting around 8:00 P.M.(1900 GMT) to discuss plans to house some 500 refugees in the town over the next ten years.
But the atmosphere turned nasty, and the meeting was abandoned as dozens of protesters tried to storm the town hall, the Dutch news agency ANP said.
A group of protesters threw fireworks and eggs at the building which was evacuated, sources told ANP.
A message posted on the town's website from the mayor, Marieke Moorman, said the town "had given police extra powers" after a "demonstration ran out of control."
Police restored calm later in the evening.