Friday, November 22, 2024

Amsterdam: Dozens detained after protesters defy mayor’s ban

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“This protest has nothing to do with antisemitism,” Alexander van Stokkum, one of the demonstrators, told the AFP news agency on Sunday. “It is against Israeli hooligans who were destroying our city.”

Others told a Reuters journalist: “We refuse to let the charge of antisemitism be weaponised to suppress Palestinian resistance.”

The news agency reported that more than 100 people were detained for attending the protest. Police in Amsterdam confirmed there had been arrests, but have yet to say how many.

Following the protest ban, Dutch activist Frank van der Linde applied for an urgent permit so Sunday’s demonstration could go ahead.

On X, he said that he wanted to protest what he described as “the genocide in Gaza”, adding: “We will not let our right to demonstrate be taken away.”

Mr Van der Linde was overruled by Amsterdam’s district court, which wrote on Sunday that “the mayor has rightly determined that there is a ban on demonstrating in the city this weekend”.

Dutch national newspaper De Telegraaf reports Mr Van der Linde was among those arrested.

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