Decorated veteran not prosecuted for dragging protester away at WWII commemoration

Major Marco Kroon will not be prosecuted for intervening when activists attempted to demonstrate during a speech by Minister Ruben Brekelmans on Liberation Day in Wageningen. The case against him is being dropped, as are those against five demonstrators, according to the Public Prosecution Service (OM).

Kroon was a guest at the memorial event and got involved when two activists climbed off the closed-off gates on 5 Mei Plein. The activists were attempting to unfurl a banner. The recipient of the Military Order of Willem, who was seated as a guest in the front row, grabbed one of the demonstrators and dragged him toward the fences.

The OM thinks that Kroon should have left the incident to the police and that he acted too vigorously. “However, considering the circumstances, the response from Kroon, who is used to acting quickly in the military, is understandable,” said the prosecutors.

The OM said in a statement that “it expressly distances itself” from the notion that it is acceptable, or even a duty, to physically confront, assault, or disrupt demonstrators during protests.

Despite this, the OM does not think Kroon needs to be prosecuted. “When two individuals from the audience breach the enclosure during the minister’s speech, their intentions are not immediately clear,” the Public Prosecution Service stated. “It is not unthinkable that they may have malicious intent.”

In the case of the five demonstrators as well, there is no indication that they did anything warranting prosecution, according to the OM. It stated that it usually exercises restraint when it comes to prosecuting demonstrators.