Dutch police want peers in 5 countries to help with NATO Summit; Drone defenses readied

Dutch police have asked for help from police forces in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, France, and Italy for the NATO Summit, said Willem Woelders, who is leading the policing operation, during a preview of the Summit. The event will be held in The Hague on June 24 and 25, and Dutch police have said that they will be deploying 27,000 police officers in and around the Summit.

The foreign help will consist of officers with police dogs and teams and devices that will be used to combat any possible drone attacks, Woelders said. It was announced by Major General Wilfred Rietdijk during the preview that the military will use “counter-drone installations” to stop unmanned aircraft during the summit. It was not said where these installations will be placed.

The Netherlands has taken many steps to combat drone attacks in recent years, but it is not yet enough for the summit, said Woelders. “There are quite a lot of locations that you want free control over, and we do not have the capacity for that right now, and neither do the Defense.”

Military airplanes owned by NATO member states will fly around the Netherlands during the summit in order to detect threats as quickly as possible. The Dutch airforce has F35 fighter jets and Apache helicopters on stand by in case they are needed.

The airspace above The Hague and the surrounding areas will also be protected by modern Patriot missiles, which are set up by Rotterdam and Valkenburg. The Netherlands still has three of these missiles after donating several to Ukraine. Smaller and cheaper weapons are ready to take out smaller threats like drones, Rietdijk said.

According to the major general, Defense can provide national security almost without foreign support. However, NATO is creating a wider, additional defense ring around the Netherlands for the summit with naval vessels.

Rietdijk also warned people to be on the look out for Russian disinformation. He mentioned a possible fake news story involving "a shooting incident involving the military" as an example. This warning was also issued by Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg of the NCTV, which is the country's anti terrorism co-ordinator.

Amsterdam’s city council expect there to be enough police deployment during the summit to keep the city safe. Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said this on behalf of the city’s security leadership group, which includes the chief of police and the Public Prosecution Service, after the question was asked by city council member Daan Wijnants of the VVD.

“The NATO Summit will take place at the World Forum in The Hague. The expectation is that there will be 8,000 people present at the summit. As of yet, none of the delegations participating in the summit will be staying in Amsterdam. There are also no parts of the program or ‘side events’ planned to be held in Amsterdam,” said Halsema.

The mayor has said that the city is working out certain scenarios. One of which is eventual demonstrations in the city during that time. “At the moment, there are two small-scale demonstrations that are registered to be held in Amsterdam during the NATO Summit. The police are continuously monitoring the registered and unregistered demonstrations. They will, as is usually the case, be judged on their own merits.”

Wijnants said that he asked the question because there are signals that activist groups will use the reduced police capacity to demonstrate in Amsterdam during the summit.

The beach in Scheveningen will likely remain open during the NATO Summit. The beach had been closed during the last summit in The Hague in 2014. The decision was made by the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism (NCTV).

Although this may not be the case for the beach in Noordwijk. United States President Donald Trump will be staying in Noordwijk if he decides to come to the summit. There have also been recent reports that the U.S. president may decide not to attend the summit.

If the U.S. president decides to attend, then parts of the beach in Noordwijk may be closed off. German media outlet Der Spiegel reported that Trump may refuse to come if NATO member states do not raise their contribution to the Defense to five percent of their economy.