demonstration

The city of Utrecht will not allow Pegida to demonstrate at the Ulu mosque in the Lombok neighborhood on Wednesday. The municipality offered the anti-Islam movement an alternative location for their demonstration, near the police station in the area, RTV Utrecht reports.

Freedom of speech means that everyone must be able to express their opinion, whatever it may be, Rotterdam mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said at a neighborhood Iftar on Sunday. "No matter how poisonous the message may be, it must be able to be expressed", he said in reaction to him allowing a Pegida pork roasting demonstration at the Laleli mosque in Rotterdam-Zuid last week, ANP reports.

At this time Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs sees no reason to summon the Israeli ambassador for an explanation about the dozens of deaths and hundreds of wounded who fell during demonstrations on the Palestinian side of the Gaza Strip on Monday, he said to parliament on Tuesday, NU.nl reports. 

A woman was injured and five people were arrested during a protest at the visitor center of nature reserve Oostvaardersplassen near Lelystad on Sunday. The woman was hurt by a police baton, and the five people were arrested for breaking open a gate at the closed visitor center, AD and ANP report.

Being able to demonstrate for or against something you believe in is a fundamental right in the Netherlands. But that right is under pressure, National Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen said in a new report, ANP reports.

A protest at Utrecht Centraal on Wednesday evening turned into a confrontation between Kurdish people protesting against Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and counter-protesters. The police intervened and dispersed the protesters, NU.nl reports.

Police union ACP is calling for more transparency on the costs involved in police deployment to demonstrations. "Our plea is that the police will show how many demonstrations there are a year and  what the costs of these demonstrations are", union chairman Gerrit van de Kamp said to RTL Nieuws.

A police horse died during a demonstration by anti-Islam group Pegida in Nijmegen on Sunday. The horse died of heart failure and its death was not caused by its deployment to the demonstration, the Nijmegen police said on Twitter.

The horse collapsed around 2:00 p.m. near the Tunnelweg in Nijmegen. The rider was hurt in the fall. According to the police, the officer is doing "well under the circumstances". 

A last-minute demonstration ban implemented for the national Sinterklaas arrival in Dokkum this past Saturday had to do with information that protesters planned to use heavy fireworks, Mayor Marga Waanders of Dongeradeel - which covers Dokkum - said in a statement. The statement did not say whether it was pro-Zwarte Piet or anti-Zwarte Piet protesters who had fireworks, AD reports. 

"Based on this information, the triangle [police, Prosecutor and mayor] was advised to ban the demonstration, because the safety of all people could no longer be guaranteed", Waanders said. 

Teacher union AOb thinks that all 6,500 primary schools across the Netherlands will not open today as primary school teachers strike for a higher salary and lower workload. The strike continues, despite reports published on Wednesday night that the new government set an extra 500 million euros aside for primary education. Around 90 percent of primary school teachers are participating in the strike, NOS reports.

"We hardly hear of any schools that will not close. And if we don't get enough money soon, we may close for two days", an AOb spokesperson said to news wire ANP. 

The municipality of Enschede is taking a number of extra security measures in preparation for various demonstrations scheduled to happen in the city on Sunday. Anti-Islam group Pediga arranged a demonstration for Sunday and a number of anti-fascist groups already announced counter demonstrations.

Extra security measures include a ban on face-covering clothing, the police will be allowed to preventatively search people on the streets, and the demonstration areas will be monitored by cameras, RTL Nieuws reports.