Amnesty Int. sues Amsterdam over demonstration ban during Maccabi Tel Aviv riots

The Dutch branch of Amnesty International has filed a lawsuit against the municipality of Amsterdam over the city’s decision to ban demonstrations for several days in November 2024. The ban was in effect for six days following riots around the Ajax vs Maccabi Tel Aviv football match.

Following unrest in the city about the Israeli football team, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema issued two emergency decrees on November 8 and 10, 2024, which included a ban on demonstrations in the capital. The decree was in effect until November 14. No one was allowed to demonstrate anywhere in the city for the first three days. In the following three days, demonstrations were permitted outside the city center if the protesters applied for an exemption.

“A blanket ban on demonstrations is a drastic measure,” Dagmar Oudshoorn, director of Amnesty International Nederland, said in a statement on the human rights organization’s website. “Never before in recent decades has a blanket ban been in effect in the Netherlands for such a long period.”

According to Amnesty International, the ban was an excessive restriction of the right to demonstrate. The organization is taking legal action to make clear “that such a far-reaching ban can never be justified.”

Working with six individual plaintiffs, Amnesty International hopes to convince the court that the Amsterdam municipality acted unlawfully. They hope to prevent such blanket bans from being used in the future.

In a statement to NU.nl, the Amsterdam municipality said that it has taken note of the lawsuit. “Amnesty is, of course, free to do so. We will await the outcome.”