Protesters have set fires in the Dutch city of Eindhoven and pelted police with rocks at a banned demonstration against coronavirus lockdown measures, while officers responded with tear gas and water cannons, arresting at least 30 people.

Police in the capital of Amsterdam also used a water cannon to disperse an outlawed anti-lockdown demonstration in a major square ringed by museums. Video showed police spraying people grouped against a wall of the Van Gogh Museum.

It was the worst violence to hit the Netherlands since the pandemic began and the second straight Sunday that police had clashed with protesters in Amsterdam.

The country has been in a tough lockdown since mid-December which is due to continue at least until February 9.

In Eindhoven, 80 miles south of Amsterdam, a central square near the main railway station was littered with rocks, bicycles and shattered glass.

Eindhoven police said they had made at least 30 arrests and warned people to stay away from the city centre. Trains to and from the station were halted and local media reported looting at the station. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The violence came a day after anti-curfew rioters torched a coronavirus testing facility in the Dutch fishing village of Urk.

The lockdown was imposed by the government to rein in the spread of the more transmissible variant of the coronavirus.

Police said they had fined more than 3,600 people nationwide for breaching the curfew that ran from 9pm on Saturday until 4.30am on Sunday, and arrested 25 people for breaching the curfew or for violence.

(With input from agencies)