Demonstrations formed in Maastricht and Amsterdam despite bitter cold

The police and riot control police put an end to demonstrations on the Vrijthof in Maastricht this Sunday afternoon. The protesters ignored the corona measures and did not adhere to social distancing rules, after which the police intervened around 3:15 p.m. and drove the participants from the square. A handful of protesters also demonstrated on a bitterly cold and windy Museumplein in Amsterdam.

About two hundred demonstrators gathered at the Vrijhof from 2 p.m. It was an unannounced demonstration against the corona measures. “If this is done in a corona proof way, it may continue,” said the spokesman earlier. The police called on the protesters to keep a distance of 1.5 meters through a megaphone. This was hardly heeded.

When the police drove people off the square, some of the participants shouted “dictatorship.” Among the demonstrators, mostly from South Limburg, were families with children. A few carried cardboard signs with texts against the corona measures. The police occasionally checked participants for their ID. An emergency ordinance was issued in Maastricht.

Unlike in the rest of the Netherlands, there was no snow in the South of Limburg. This made the Vrijthof easily accessible. It did rain there.

The Museumplein and its immediate surroundings in Amsterdam were also designated as a safety risk area this Sunday.

Mayor Femke Halsema, police, and the Public Prosecution Service have taken that decision. There were fears that people with weapons would come to the square again this Sunday. Officers searched the visitors and looked into bags. A dozen police buses and riot vans were waiting on Museumplein for the announced “snowball fight”.