The anti- Zarte Piet protestors arrested in November 2016 during the national arrival of Sinterklaas in Maasluis will not be prosecuted.
168 people have received the news through a letter from the Public Prosecutor this week. Their cases have been dismissed due to insufficient evidence and because they have been unjustly regarded as suspects, according to NOS
The police had to closed down a street in Nijmegen on Wednesday night after an information evening on Sinterklaas' controversial helper Zwarte Piet devolved into a brawl, Omroep Gelderland reports.
Well-known anti-Zwarte Piet activist Jerry Afriyie was fined 500 euros by the court in The Hague for resisting arrest during the Sinterklaas arrival in Gouda in 2014. Afriyie plans to go in cassation against the verdict, he confirmed to NU.nl.
Anti-Zwarte Piet activist Jerry Afriyie filed abuse reports against a number of police offiers on Tuesday. According to the activists, the police use unnecessary violence while arresting him and nearly 200 others in Rotterdam on Sinterklaas' arrival day on November 12th, AD reports.
A massive 198 people were arrested in Rotterdam on Saturday for wanting to protest against controversial character Zwarte Piet. Among them were GroenLinks councilor Simion Blom, lawyer Michiel Pestman and activist Jerry Afriyie.
The court acquitted anti-Zwarte Piet activist Jerry Afriyie on Thursday. Afriyie was charged with resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer during a violent protest in Gouda two years ago
Opponents of controversial Sinterklaas character Zwarte Piet pressed charges of, among other things, "statements inciting discrimination" against comedian Erik van Muiswinkel, who plays the head Piet in the Sinterklaasjournaal.
Protest group Kick Out Zwarte Piet is pressing charges against people who left racist comments on a photo the group posted on Facebook.
Sinterklaas officially arrived in the Netherlands on Saturday, accompanied by his controversial helper, Zwarte Piet. Though the assistants are mythologized as having dark smudges caused by soot, the character more closely resembles minstrels in blackface with nappy-haired wigs, large hoop earrings, big red lips and a buffoonish demeanour.
The first black mayor of a major Dutch city takes office this week. D66 party member Franc Weerwind will be appointed the mayor of Almere on Wednesday.
Hundreds of complaints on Zwarte Piet were filed at the mobile police uni set up on the Museumplein in Amsterdam during the commemoration of the abolition of slavery on Wednesday.
Anti-Zwarte Piet groups are planning protests and demonstrations at the national entry of Sinterklaas on November 14th in Meppel.
