Tuesday, 8
October 2024 - 07:36
Wilders
says A'dam mayor can leave NL with pro-Palestine "scum"; 320
protesters arrested
In response
to a photo of a pro-Palestine demonstration, PVV leader Geert Wilders posted on
X that “that scum” should be expelled from the Netherlands. “And Halsema can go
along,” the PVV leader said about Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema. A total of
around 320 protesters were arrested in Amsterdam on Monday.
Utrecht
mayor Sharon Dijksma has defended her colleague on social media. She called on
the Cabinet to distance itself from Wilders’ statement. “I find it completely
irresponsible that Geert Wilders makes this statement at the expense of our
colleague Femke Halsema and at the expense of us as office holders who do their
work in good faith within the boundaries of the rule of law,” Dijksma wrote.
“This undermines the authority of mayors and is completely out of proportion.”
On Monday,
the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel was commemorated on Dam
Square in Amsterdam, among other places. A pro-Palestinian
counter-demonstration was also permitted in the area under certain conditions.
Halsema said
that counter-demonstrations fall under the fundamental right to demonstrate,
within sight and hearing distance of the goal of their demonstration. “Whether
you agree or not: these are the rules that we have agreed on in this country.
As long as it is peaceful.”
According to
Dijksma, all parties in parliament must “stand up for the rule of law and our
constitutional freedoms.” She says that mayors seek a balance for this every
day and that the law is leading in facilitating demonstrations. “Even if it
leads to a lot of emotions.”
Demonstrations
in Amsterdam got out of hand and the riot police intervened, arresting around
320 people.
About 300
pro-Palestinian demonstrators were arrested for not complying with the
regulations of the Public Demonstrations Act. It involved a group of activists
who wanted to enter Dam Square via Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal after mayor Halsema
had ended their demonstration. The police managed to prevent this and took the
demonstrators by bus to a location in Amsterdam-Noord, where they were released
again.
The other 20
or so demonstrators were arrested during the day for “all kinds of offenses”
such as insults and setting off fireworks. It is unclear whether any of them
are pro-Palestinian. They were transferred to a cell complex. It is unclear how
many of them stayed in custody overnight.
In a
statement, Halsema stressed the fundamental right to demonstrate, but that it
must happen within the framework and boundaries of the law. Otherwise, the
authorities will intervene. “Unfortunately, that was the case today,” said the
mayor.
She called
the incidents that occurred on Monday such as “deliberately seeking
confrontation with other demonstrators or police, blocking trams, and not
following the authorities' instructions” of a “completely different order and
unacceptable.”
Halsema also
reported that the commemoration of the victims of the “brutal and violent
attack by Hamas” a year ago “was able to proceed peacefully and safely, with
the exception of a few brief disruptions.” According to her, it was a “charged
and emotional day, especially for Jewish Amsterdammers.”
Reporting by
ANP and NL Times
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