Over 30 event organizers join lawsuit against new Covid measures

Over 30 organizations in the events and festivals sector joined a lawsuit against the Cabinet's new coronavirus measures. They see the decision to cancel major multi-day events, only weeks after allowing them to be organized, as "careless and unjust" and ask the court to allow public events that meet the conditions of previous Fieldlab experiments, NOS reports.

Fieldlab had attendees show recent negative Covid-19 results, and be tested a few days after the event, among other things. The summary proceedings will be handled by the court in The Hague at 10:00 a.m. on Friday.

The dozens of organizations are joining a lawsuit announced by ID&T - organizer of Mysteryland and Milkshake - almost immediately after Prime Minister Mark Rutte's press conference on Friday. At that press conference, Rutte announced that no overnight stays will be possible, event capacity will be limited to two-thirds, and attendees must have fixed seats. 

"We agree with ID&T and the impending summary proceedings because of the enormous (financial) consequences that the resulting lack of clarity entails. We need to know where we, and the event industry, stand," Joop Soree, organizer of Paaspop and WiSH Outdoor, said to the broadcaster.

The organizers of the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort also joined the lawsuit. "It is impossible for us to explain internationally that we'll only have clarity about the conditions under which we can organize the event less than three weeks before the start of the event," F1 Dutch Grand Prix director Imre van Leeuwen said. The Dutch Grand Prix is scheduled for early September.