Europe in Crisis
Mar 20, 2020
4 minutes
BY CHARLOTTE MCDONALD-GIBSON/THE HAGUE
![200330weuro_043](https://article-imgs.scribdassets.com/50nshhapog7pvt6u/images/fileFPFMNMQ3.jpg)
HEN THE CLAPPING STARTED, IT WAS IMPOSSIble not to feel moved. At 8 p.m. on March 17, people across the Netherlands leaned out of windows and congregated on doorstops to make a show of support for medical workers battling the coronavirus. First it was just a few claps, before the sound spread down my street in the Hague, working up to a crescendo of whistles and whoops. Fireworks sounded in the distance. A neighbor I had never spoken to waved from across the street. The warmth and goodwill was the epitome of what it means to be part of a community—a scene also playing out in Italy,
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