Some 15,000 join Amsterdam march to support Palestinian people, 3 arrested

Around 15,000 people were on Dam Square in Amsterdam at the peak of the pro-Palestine demonstration, the police said. They arrested three demonstrators in Amsterdam.

One demonstrator was arrested for carrying a flag of the Palestinian militant movement Hamas. Two others were arrested for wearing face-covering clothing and threatening an officer.

The protesters marched from Dam Square to Westerpark. The march ended at around 6:00 p.m. The organizers are satisfied with how it went, said Nicole Hollenberg, chairman of the Palestinian interest group Services and Research Center Palestine (DocP), one of the march's organizers.

According to Hollenberg, there was “a sea of solidarity, sadness and pain” at the demonstration. “But also of respect,” she said. “The number of participants was enormous. There seemed to be no end to them.”

Most demonstrators marched from Dam Square to Westerpark. Several dozen protesters remained behind on Dam Square. Some later tried to disrupt a pro-Israel demonstration on the nearby Beursplein. The riot police briefly intervened to disperse the two groups of demonstrators.

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) and the police had said in advance that they would not tolerate “hate speech, calls for violence, and other threats to our peaceful and open society.” Showing the flags of Hamas or Hezbollah, for example, was not allowed. The police said they would “take the circumstances of the moment’ into account when taking any action.