Police protect Utrecht school with Minions in place of Zwarte Piet

Sinterklaas was accompanied by a wide range of characters all across the Netherlands on Friday morning. At the Prinses Magriet school in Utrecht he was surrounded by Minions and police officers. 

The Prinses Magriet school told their students that the Pieten drank the wrong drink and were transformed into minions, made famous by the animated movie Despicable Me, AD reports. The children accepted this happily enough. Zwarte Piet was not completely unrepresented, however. A number of parents dressed up as the traditional character. But despite this the atmosphere was happy, according to the newspaper, with both supporters and opponents hugging and complimenting each other afterwards.

At the public elementary school Waterrijk in Leidsche Rijn, Sinterklaas was accompanied by a pepernoten-gang. A group of parents and children dressed in velvet capes and black eye masks surrounded the Saint and handed out cookies.

Schools around Amsterdam used multi-colored Pieten, often in clown wigs. Children were delighted by the characters running around, throwing pepernoten cookies at them. The Oostelijke Elanden elementary school had Sinterklaas come in with orange Petes and firefighters.

Bij de Prinses Margrietschool in Utrecht kwam Sinterklaas met Minions. Sint: "Ze zijn wel een beetje langzaam." #NOS pic.twitter.com/B3gnOpTHcU

— Ronald Oostingh (@RonaldOostingh) December 4, 2015