(NL Times) Prime Minister Mark Rutte defended Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema’s decision to allow a demonstration at the opening of the National Holocaust Museum on Sunday. About a thousand people protested on Waterlooplein against the presence of Israeli president Isaac Herzog at the opening. Thirteen people arrested at the demonstration were all released from custody again on Monday.
“The right to demonstrate is part of a free and democratic society,” Halsema said on Monday about the protest, which could be heard from the opening ceremony. “It gives a voice to everyone who disagrees with something. That does not detract from the lasting value of the Holocaust Museum in our city.”
PVV leader Geert Wilders had criticized Halsema for allowing the demonstration, calling it an “unprecedented shame” that the pro-Palestine demonstrators could come so close to the opening ceremony. In his post on X, he called Halsema (GroenLinks-PvdA) a left-wing extremist and accused her of a “political action.”
