Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema has banned a large pro-Israel protest that was planned for Thursday night at the Dutch capital’s central Dam Square. Halsema’s spokesperson says the mayor can’t guarantee public safety.
No violence has occurred from the pro-Israeli side at any Amsterdam rally since October 7, 2023. Anti-Israeli protests, however, routinely end in clashes with police. At an earlier demonstration organized by Christians For Israel marking a year since the Hamas invasion of southern Israel, protesters on Dam Square were attacked by violent pro-Palestinian counter-protesters.
Thursday’s planned demonstration may yet take place if the organizers agree on a different location, but Christians For Israel leader Roger van Oordt has so far refused to do so. Van Oordt points out the important “symbolic value” of the central square where the National Monument is located.
Van Oordt has threatened to sue the mayor for her refusal to let the protest take place. Anti-Israel protestors demonstrate on Dam Square weekly.
Naomi Mestrum, director of the pro-Israel lobby group CIDI, told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, “Mayor Halsema has never cared about safety.”
On the nights of November 7 and 8, violent pro-Palestinian street gangs attacked Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters and others, calling on social media for a “Jew hunt”; some politicians labeled it a “pogrom.”
Mestrum told De Telegraaf that she wonders how the mayor will guarantee public safety at any other location.
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From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
