FILE- In this Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, file photo, closed stores on Dam street and the Royal Palace on Dam Square, rear, are seen in Amsterdam. The Dutch government said Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, that it wants to impose a curfew as part of beefed-up restrictions to rein in the spread of new more contagious variants of the coronavirus that already accounts for at least one in every 10 Dutch infections. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Dutch opposition lawmakers slammed the government's plan to introduce a curfew to rein in the spread of COVID-19 during a debate about the measure Thursday, calling it a disproportionate restriction of freedom and questioning its effectiveness.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte responded that it was an unwanted but necessary step to check the spread of new more transmissible variants of the coronavirus.

The comments during the lengthy parliamentary debate underscored growing frustration at months of restrictions intended to tackle the pandemic that has killed more than 13,000 people in the Netherlands.

Rutte told lawmakers that medical experts advising the government on its virus strategy say the threat of more contagious variants “is so serious that you have to impose this terrible measure of a curfew in addition to the existing lockdown measures.”

But with the government in caretaker mode since resigning Friday, it needs approval from lawmakers to impose the curfew. After hours of debate in parliament, it remained unclear if a majority would support the measure.

Geert Wilders, leader of the largest opposition party, called the proposed curfew “a sign of utter impotence and panic” from the government.

"We are being imprisoned at home on the orders of Mark Rutte. If you leave home without his permission, you get a fine. We are losing our freedom en masse and that is no fun. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about,” said Wilders who has for years lived under round-the-clock security because of death threats prompted by his strident anti-Islam policies.

Tunahan Kuzu, of the Think party, warned that Rutte's proposal would turn the Netherlands into a “police state," while other lawmakers urged the government to better enforce existing lockdown measures such as the call for people to work from home.

Even one of the parties in Rutte's four-party ruling coalition criticized the proposed 8:30 p.m.-to-4:30 a.m. curfew, saying that, if it is necessary, it should start later in the evening. Rutte suggested it was possible to push back the start to 9 p.m.

If parliament approves the curfew, the Netherlands would join other European Union countries that have told people to stay home after dark, including Belgium, France, Italy, Greece and parts of Germany.

Rutte’s coalition resigned over a scandal involving thousands of parents wrongly being labeled fraudsters by the country’s tax office.

The Netherlands has been in a tough lockdown since Dec. 15. Numbers of infections and hospital admissions have been declining in recent weeks but health authorities are concerned that the more transmissible mutation of the coronavirus first detected in Britain will make up the majority of Dutch cases by mid-February.

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