Hundreds of Syrians protest in The Hague against government plans

Several hundred Syrians gathered on Lange Voorhout in The Hague on Sunday afternoon to protest against the Cabinet's plans to declare parts of Syria safe. According to the organization Free Syrians Netherlands, it is absolutely not safe in Syria as long as Bashar Assad is in power there. “We are not fortune seekers,” they said. “A return to Syria means a return to hell.”

The protesters wave flags of the Syrian revolution and carry signs with texts such as “As long as Assad rules, there is no Syrian who can return” and “It is not safe with a dictator in charge”.

One of the organizers claims that most of the participants would have preferred to stay in Syria. “We didn't come here to take away your homes. We have no other safe place to go. When Assad is gone, people will return to their own homes and families.”

From Lange Voorhout, the crowd marched towards Reagan and Gorbachev avenues, near The Hague Central Station. They were accompanied by the police, who were there in large numbers in The Hague city center on Sunday afternoon.

The Cabinet wants to send Syrian asylum seekers back if parts of the country, where a civil war has been raging for years, prove to be safe. It is currently the case that Syrians who have requested asylum here will not be sent back based on the current official report about Syria from August 2023. The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled earlier this month that people cannot be sent back if only parts of the country of origin are safe. The Schoof I Cabinet looks at this ruling differently, the prime minister said. He assumes that the ruling will not be an obstacle.