Prosecutors apologize to 7 falsely accused in Schiphol climate change protest
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) officially apologized to seven climate activists for falsely accusing them of attending a demonstration at Schiphol airport on November 5 last year. The OM sent them official warnings, but they proved they weren’t at the protest at all. “Research has shown that this was wrongly determined by the Koninklijke Marechaussee,” the OM said on Thursday.
The OM sent the seven activists involved a letter apologizing for the false accusation and incorrectly sent warnings. The authorities will delete their personal data in relation to the demonstration.
The Koninklijke Marehcaussee (KMar) arrested around 400 protesters at a climate demonstration at Schiphol Airport on November 5. According to the OM, the majority of them refused to identify themselves “or had taken measures to make their identification more difficult.” So, the KMar identified them based on police information and social media.
In July, the OM sent warnings to 175 people identified by the KMar as participating in the Schiphol protest. Eight of them objected that they weren’t there. The OM investigated and found this was the case for seven activists who received warnings. The investigation into the eighth person is still ongoing.
“It is disturbing that things did not go well here, and we apologize for that,” said Corien Fahner, the Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor of the Noord-Holland OM. “The OM naturally entered into discussions with the KMar about how this could have happened.”
The KMar is currently investigating how it established the identity of the climate demonstrators at the protest. The OM expects the results of that inquiry in early October. “If it turns out that more people have been incorrectly identified as being present at the demonstration, they will also be informed. It will also be made public,” the OM said.
The OM also said it dropped a trespassing charge against a 35-year-old man from Beilen, accused of chaining himself to a plane during the demonstration. According to the OM, the investigation revealed that the man was at the protest but was not the one who chained himself to the plane.
