Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
Khadija Arib
Khadija Arib - Credit: Rebke Klokke / Wikimedia Commons - License: CC-BY
Crime
Politics
Khadija Arib
protest
demonstration
Threat
harassment
Tweede Kamer
The Hague
Friday, October 16, 2020 - 08:09
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Protesters harassing, threatening politicians outside parliament, House leader says

There are now "daily" protests outside the doors of the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, and the demonstrators are not always peaceful, Kamer president Khadija Arib said to Nieuwsuur. "They attack parliamentarians, touch them and scream at journalists and politicians."

According to Arib, in the first eight months of this year, parliamentarians filed 44 reports and pressed charges 17 times due to threats and similar incidents. That is excluding the hundreds of threats directed at PVV leader Geert Wilders.

Employees and visitors to the Tweede Kamer now try to avoid the building as much as possible, she said. "There have been times when we went out through a different exit at the end of the meeting. It is a very grim atmosphere."

It is often impossible to have a conversation with the protesters outside of parliament, Arib said. "Politicians are quite thick skinned and have to listen to the unease that exists, but having a conversation is almost impossible," she said. 

Arib contacted the mayor of The Hague, asking whether the demonstrations could be moved. "How they are organized is his responsibility, but I want MPs to be able to do their work in freedom and safety."

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Dutch students less interested in German studies; Spanish gaining popularity
  • Women's prison guard suspected of sexual abuse
  • Mondriaan painting sold for $315,000 in New York
  • Netherlands teaming up with Germany, Denmark for more offshore wind farms
  • Satanic pedophile network tales cost conspiracy theorists €215,000 in damages
  • Rutte's lack of transparency a pattern, opposition says in deleted texts debate

Top stories

  • Storm warning intensified: Code orange alert issued for three Dutch provinces
  • Cabinet cutting €2.2 billion from climate, development funds to push into Defense: report
  • PM Rutte's deleted texts can't be recovered; Parliamentary debate today
  • Thunderstorms in Netherlands on Thursday: Code Yellow
  • More substantial minimum wage increase set for next year: Report
  • Labor strike to shut The Hague public transportation on June 2

© 2012-2022, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content