Police arrest protestors who ran towards Emmanuel Macron during Univ. Amsterdam visit

The police arrested a man and a woman at the Amsterdam Science Park on Wednesday during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the University of Amsterdam (UvA). Macron visited the science faculty with King Willem-Alexander. According to the police, the man and woman ran toward the French president, shouting French slogans. They were arrested for disturbing public order and making threats, the police said.

A police spokesperson reported that police officers stopped the woman before she could get close to the president. The man managed to get by them. According to an ANP photographer, about six security guards knocked the man to the ground and took him away. One guard held a hand over the protester’s mouth. Five police officers later carried him away.

According to broadcaster NOS, the protesters shouting something related to labor demonstrators in France. French media reported that he was singing from the yellow vests protest movement. Security guards brought the protesters down a few meters away from Macron and Willem-Alexander, who kept talking to each other throughout the incident.

On Tuesday, demonstrators also disrupted a speech by the French president in The Hague. They called Macron the “president of violence and hypocrisy” and rolled out several banners. The demonstrators referred to the ongoing protests in France in response to a controversial pension law.

The French president and his wife, Brigitte, will conclude their State visit to the Netherlands in Amsterdam on Wednesday. At the University of Amsterdam Science Park, Macron and Willem-Alexander were scheduled to tour the Quantum Gases and Quantum Information Lab, part of a Dutch-French cooperation in the field of quantum technology at the Institute of Physics.

At the same time, Queen Máxima and the first lady of France were scheduled to tour a walk-in facility operated by the Mind US foundation, where Máxima is the honorary chair. They were scheduled to discuss the mental health of young people and the foundation’s approach and objectives.

The group will then reunite at the Rijksmuseum. The two couples will visit the Vermeer exhibition with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and others. Máxima and Brigitte Macron will then take a canal cruise with a delegation of women.

Later Wednesday, delegations from the Dutch and French Cabinets will meet for their second government consultation, which is intended to “further expand the friendship and cooperation between the Netherlands and France and take it to a higher level,” according to the Dutch Cabinet’s press office. The Cabinets will discuss matters such as defense, innovation, energy, foreign affairs, migration, and scientific research. Rutte will also speak one-on-one with Macron.