No police at Ajax vs. Feyenoord rivalry match as early retirement protests continue

No police officers will be on duty for operational work during the grudge match between Feyenoord and Ajax in De Kuip in Rotterdam on Sunday. The police unions are protesting for a decent early retirement scheme for cops. This is the first high-risk football match affected by the protest, NOS reports.

Only Feyenoord fans will be allowed in the stadium. Due to numerous incidents in the past, away fans have not been welcome at matches between Ajax and Feyenoord for years. But that is no guarantee for a peaceful outcome.

In September last year, riots broke out after the match was abandoned in Amsterdam because someone threw fireworks onto the pitch. Fifteen people were arrested, and two cops were injured. Feyenoord already announced that it would be installing nets around the field to catch thrown objects.

The police have been campaigning for a decent early retirement scheme for months, starting with not issuing fines in May and then escalating to closing police stations to the public, noise protests, and not deploying cops to Eredivisie matches.

The previous matches affected by the protest were not high-risk matches, according to NOS. Breda mayor Paul Depla said that the city didn’t plan to deploy cops to the NAC-Ajax match anyway. But he added that the situation could have been very different if NAC had a different opponent. “Then I would have had a different type of conversation with the police or would eventually have had to ban the match.”

The current early retirement scheme (RVU) for people with physically taxing professions expires next year. Last week, GroenLinks-PvdA and SP advocated for retaining the current RVU. Minister Eddy van Hijum of Social Affairs said he “absolutely saw the importance” of this scheme but immediately added that it would have financial consequences.

But the police unions want more than the current RVU. The current scheme allows cops to retire three years earlier, but they often have to supplement their income with savings. There is also no pension accrual during those years, which can have a major impact on their retirement.

The RVU also applies to other sectors. Trade unions are planning strikes and protests in cleaning, public transport, and the metal sector next month.