The Hague (Netherlands), Jul 20 (AP) A Dutch court convicted a young man and a teenager of arson Tuesday for torching a coronavirus testing site during violent protests in January that followed the introduction of a nationwide curfew to curb COVID-19 cases.

The court sentenced the 21-year-old man to a year in prison, with half the term suspended, and sentenced the 16-year-old boy to 180 days of youth detention, with 131 days suspended. The teen also was ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.

The court said the pair broke into the compound of the test location in a fishing village near the harbour of Urk on January 23 and the teenager set fire to a garbage container using a burning face mask.

The two then piled more material onto the fire along with a flammable disinfectant. The test location was destroyed in the ensuing blaze.

Both “are guilty of a serious criminal offence,” the court said in a statement. “Beyond that, the destruction of the test location meant that corona testing in Urk was impossible for a time.” Both would have to serve the suspended parts of their sentences if they commit another crime.

The vast majority of people in the Netherlands accepted and complied with the curfew and other lockdown measures that the Dutch government has since mostly lifted. But a vocal minority protested, sometimes violently, against the restrictions.

On Monday, a court in the southeastern Netherlands found two men guilty of damaging another coronavirus test and treatment center in November by setting off powerful fireworks.

A 26-year-old man was sentenced to 120 days imprisonment with 109 days suspended and a 22-year-old man was given 120 days in youth detention, 110 days of which were suspended. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)