Dutch cultural sector protests pandemic lockdown measures

By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw orchestra has played second fiddle to a pair of hairdressers. Vincent van Gogh’s self-portraits have been briefly upstaged by a nail salon and barber as civil disobedience to protest the Dutch coronavirus lockdown spread to the cultural sector. The Netherlands has been in a tough lockdown since mid-December. Under an easing of restrictions announced Friday businesses like hairdressers and gyms and non-essential stores were allowed to reopen, but museums, theaters and cinemas, along with bars and restaurants, have to remain closed. The cultural sector protested Wednesday by turned venues into businesses such as hairdressers or nail salons to press home their demand to reopen.