Diemen alderman arrested for "disrupting public order" at A'dam city hall
Jorrit Nuijens, GroenLinks alderman in Diemen, was arrested in front of the Amsterdam city hall on Thursday evening for disrupting public order. The 39-year-old alderman "went completely crazy" at cafe Amstelhoeck, located next to the Amsterdam city hall, a waiter at the cafe told the Telegraaf.
The municipality of Diemen confirmed the arrest to NU.nl, but could not say why Nuijens was arrested. A spokesperson for the national GroenLinks party told the newspaper that it is too soon to respond. The police said in a statement that a 39-year-old man was arrested on Waterlooplein at around 6:00 p.m. for disrupting public order, though did not mention names. The suspect vehemently resisted arrest and spat in a cop's face when he was taken to the police station, the police said.
Police officers at the scene told the Telegraaf that they went to cafe Amstelhoeck after a report of a disturbance.
A waiter told the newspaper that Nuijens told him he was going to smoke a joint outside. "He came in here and went completely crazy. Once outside he put something in his nose", the waiter said. The waiter tried to calm the alderman. "I gave him another glass of water, but he wasn't having it. He started screaming very loudly. He was raging like an idiot."
After leaving the cafe, Nuijens was seen shouting and gesturing wildly in front of the city hall, according to the Telegraaf. He objected to being filmed by a film crew following the Amsterdam police to see what their work looks like, the newspaper writes. The alderman was eventually worked to the ground and arrested outside of the Amsterdam city hall.
At the weekly city council meeting in Diemen later on Thursday evening, mayor Erik Boog said that he was informed of the incident, according to NU.nl. "As municipality, we do not comment until the circumstances have been investigated and the facts have been listed", he said.
Katinka Eikelenboom of the national GroenLinks party told the Telegraaf that she can not yet respond in depth. "The images do not look good", she added to the newspaper. "For now I will not say anything else about it, I first want to know exactly what happened."
Rutger Groot Wassink, a GroenLinks alderman in Amsterdam, said that he was shocked by Nuijens' arrest. "I don't want to speculate about what exactly happened", he said. "That will have to be sorted out. That is up to the police."
Nuijens was appointed alderman in Diemen last year. He is in charge of Employment, Income and Poverty, Public Space, Green Space, Waste and Nature, Sustainability, and the Environment. Before that he was a city councilor in Amsterdam.
