Video: Demonstrator interrupts lecture attended by Royals on Aruba with freedom protest

A demonstrator interrupted a lecture in Aruba attended by the Dutch Royals on Tuesday. During the lecture on the characteristics of Caribbean law at the University of Aruba, she stood up, held up a flag, and sang the gospel song Oh freedom, which is about slavery.

Studente protesteert tijdens koninklijk bezoek aan universiteit pic.twitter.com/UUd9ZqUtjL

— Rick Evers (@RickEversRoyal) January 31, 2023

The woman was escorted from the hall, and the lecture continued. Princess Amalia, King Willem-Alexander, and Queen Maxima were guests at the lecture as part of their tour through the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The demonstrator is Giselle Sint Jago, a politician for the party Pueblo Rome and a master’s student in law, NOS reports. As a student, she was allowed to attend the lecture.

Sint Jago told the broadcaster that she planned to hand a manifesto to the Dutch King calling on him to apologize for the Dutch slavery past as his government did in December. She also asks for reparations for the descendants of enslaved people and for the Netherlands to enshrine slavery in law as a crime against humanity. “No royal apology, but a royal visit,” the document states. “Compensation in proportion with the crime is what we claim in the here and now.”

On December 19, Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologized on behalf of the Dutch State for the Netherlands’ history of slavery. The Prime Minister said that the King feels personally very involved in the subject, but the apologies were too politically controversial for the King to make.

Willem-Alexander commissioned an independent investigation into the Oranjes’ role in Dutch colonialism. He will also attend the Keti Koti commemoration in Amsterdam on July 1. It is not clear whether he will also apologize for the Dutch history of enslaving people.