Pro-Palestinian activists disrupt parliament memorial for former Dutch PM Dries van Agt

The memorial service for former Prime Minister Dries van Agt in Parliament on Tuesday was briefly disrupted by pro-Palestinian activists in the public gallery who also hung a Palestinian flag. Van Agt, 93, was a champion of the Palestinian cause in his final years. He passed away on the February 5 with his wife.

"Free free Palestine!" the activists shouted. "He was the only politician who stood up for Palestine. The only one!" one of the protestors yelled while being led by police to a different hall.

Van Agt was the first party leader of the CDA after it was formed from a combination of three parties, but he canceled his party membership in 2017 because he no longer agreed with the CDA's attitude towards the Palestinian people. The former prime minister took the initiative for the human rights organization The Rights Forum, which champions the rights of Palestinians as one of its causes.

After the short, two minute disruption, Van Agt's memory was honored with several pleasant stories. For the former prime minister, a strong sense of justice "was a core concept," and he "acted with his conscience," said Prime Minister Mark Rutte about the man who held his job decades earlier. Like Rutte, President of the Senate Jan Anthonie Bruijn and Tweede Kamer Chair Martin Bosma also emphasized his remarkable work.

Bruijn described the former prime minister as an "unconventional and innovative politician who always remained true to himself." Bosma called van Agt "a political icon."

Rutte said, "Dries van Agt was a totally unique person for his whole life. He was a man who stayed true to himself under all circumstances and in every function and never sought the gray area. Van Agt took his life motto from the apostle Paul: Examine everything, but keep what is good," the prime minister recalled. According to Rutte, a conversation with Van Agt was "always enjoyable, never boring. There was always something to laugh about. Even when the conversation was tough, and that was often the case."

Van Agt entered into nationwide politics as a progressive Nijmegen lawyer but "quickly developed as ultra-conservative," Rutte said. He started as justice minister and then became the prime minister of three cabinets. Rutte added that Van Agt again became progressive in his later years, referring to his "passionate" support for the Palestinian cause.