Learn Dutch: Hierdoor vindt de staking plaats en escaleert het conflict. - Because of this, the strike takes place and the conflict escalates.

Because the sentence starts with the demonstrative adverb hierdoor (because of this). Whenever a main clause starts with an adverb rather than the subject, Dutch uses "V2 inversion." This means the verb must stay in the second position, forcing the subject to move right after it.

Why is the second half of the sentence (escaleert het conflict) also inverted? Doesn't en normally keep the standard word order?

Excellent catch! Normally, en (and) just links two main clauses and doesn't change their word order. However, in this sentence, hierdoor logically applies to both actions. It's as if the sentence says: "Hierdoor vindt de staking plaats en [hierdoor] escaleert het conflict." Because the implied hierdoor carries over to the start of the second clause, the inversion carries over as well.

Why is plaats at the end of the first clause?

It is part of the separable verb plaatsvinden (to take place). In a main clause, the conjugated part of the verb (vindt) takes the second position, and the separable prefix (plaats) gets kicked to the end of its respective clause.

Could I use daardoor instead of hierdoor here?