Cabinet to investigate limiting protestors right to demonstrate

The caretaker Cabinet will authorize an independent study on the right to demonstrate, the political leaders of the Netherlands decided on Friday. The reason is the rise in demonstrations in which participants consciously push their situation to the limits of the law, break the law, jeopardize the fundamental rights of others, or put national security in danger.

The decision was announced in a letter to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch Parliament. The letter was submitted on Friday by Interior Affairs Minister Hugo de Jonge and Justice and Security Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz. The latter is also the leader of the VVD's Tweede Kamer faction, and is leading her party's negotiations to participate in a new coalition Cabinet.

The study will determine whether the current rules and conditions in the Netherlands are still sufficient for the current developments. De Jonge said he supports the right to demonstrate, but the minister emphasized that this right “does not offer a free pass to purposefully break the rules and harm the interests of others. If we ignore this, we risk putting the support base for the right to demonstrate under pressure."

He said that there is currently not much space to weigh the interests of the right to demonstrate against other fundamental rights. He claimed that there is “the impression that the fundamental rights of one are more important than the other.”

There has been an increase in protests in which the boundaries of the law are sought for or broken, Yeşilgöz claimed. She referred to highway blockades, occupations of parts of the country's airports, and acts of arson on or near highways that cause dangerous traffic situations. “That is not only damaging but also requires a large effort from police officers who are then unable to do their important work in the neighborhoods.”

The study is aimed specifically at demonstrations where laws are tested or broken. It will also investigate demonstrations where fundamental rights or national security are put in danger.

Much attention will be given to the European rules in the research, like the European Convention on Human Rights. An article from that Convention has “broader grounds for consideration than we have in the laws of the Netherlands,” De Jonge said after the regular weekly Council of Ministers meeting.

The European Convention on Human Rights, for example, allows the use of national security as a reason to limit demonstrations. This option is not in Dutch laws. The Cabinet is looking into whether this could be added. A possible demonstration ban could take into account the risk of attacks.