by Oui
Sun May 18th, 2025 at 03:07:31 PM EST
Protest march of nearly one hundred thousand participate in a demonstration against the Dutch (Geert Wilders) lack of action to stop war crimes in Gaza. The end destination will be the Peace Palace, home of the United Nations' World Court ICJ. I participated recently @Malieveld with a still surprising 5,000 demonstrators ... but today ... the LARGEST protest in 20 years.
I wasn't aware there were that number of humanists left in the old country. 😊
Red Line March in The Hague
Today there is a so-called red line demonstration in The Hague. The organization of the protest march expects that 37,000 people will walk in a long line from the Malieveld in City Centre to the Peace Palace starting at 13:00. In their view, the Dutch government must 'draw a clear red line and take decisive action' to stop the violence in Gaza. In this live blog we will keep you informed of the latest developments.
More than 100,000 protesters march against war violence in Gaza
The protest action 'Draw the Red Line', where the protesters dressed in red call on the Dutch government to take action against Israel and the war violence in Gaza, is coming to an end. With more than a hundred thousand protesters, it has become the largest demonstration in 20 years.
Wilders responds: 'Confused people'
Civil Servants Protest Against Violation of International Human Rights Law
For 40 weeks, civil servants have been protesting every Thursday during recess in front of the Foreign Office building, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. [Oct. 10th, 2024]
Dutch civil servants call for Gaza ceasefire in rare protest | Arab News – 21 Dec. 2023 |
- Around 150 ministerial workers held up placards and unfurled a banner reading “Civil Servants Demand Cease-fire” over lunchtime
- They were protesting the government’s current stance on the call for an end to hostilities
“There’s concern over the fact that the Dutch government is still not calling for a permanent cease-fire and that is in essence why we’re here today,” said Angelique Eijpe, spokeswoman for the group. Eijpe told AFP she resigned from Foreign Affairs last month over the continued Dutch position in the conflict.
The conflict erupted on After October 7 when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, Israel retaliated by pounding the area with its heaviest-ever bombardment.
The Netherlands, like Germany and Italy, last week abstained from voting for a cease-fire during a UN General Assembly meet, despite an overwhelming number of countries voting in favor.
Dutch Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot afterwards said the abstention resulted from the text of the resolution “not being clear enough” on Israel’s right to defend itself — and it did not refer to the October 7 attack by Hamas. But some civil servants disagreed with the Dutch position, staging the protest which lasted about half-an-hour.
Although protests often happen in the Netherlands, it is rare for civil servants to make their voices heard contrary to official policy.
“We are here because we disagree with the Netherlands’ stance on the cease-fire issue,” said protester Jesse Jansen, 34. “We cannot just stand by and watch which while international and humanitarian law are being violated,” he told AFP.
For almost a year, civil servants of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been demonstrating every Thursday against government policy towards Israel. Tomorrow, there will be a memorial protest all day long, with civil servants, former diplomats and former ambassadors. Former minister Jan Pronk hopes to hand over a petition to Minister of Foreign Affairs Veldkamp.
At the time the Dutch Bat III company surrendered to the murderous Milosevic gang of Serbs in Srebrenica, it was Jan Pronk as sole voice to warn of the impending genocide, slaughter of civilian Muslims. Dutch FM at the time, Jaap De Hoop Scheffer flew into Zagreb to welcome the release of the Dutch armed forces company and staged a party in presence of crown prince Willem Alexander. SHAME ON YOU
NIOD report minister Jan Pronk warned of impending genocide Srebrenica
Dutch civil servants stage protest against government, Israel for 6 months | Anadolu Agency |
Bombing of universities, hospitals, and homes, are serious war crimes, says protester
NATO to stay in Bosnia, says Scheffer | DPA – 2004 |
Sarajevo/Athens (dpa) - NATO will stay engaged in Bosnia and will help the country rejoin Europe, but local authorities must do more to achieve that goal, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.
Despite recent progress in the country a lot remains to be done for Bosnia to become a member of the NATO Partnership for Peace programme and, at a future point, of the alliance itself, the NATO chief said.
One of the crucial tasks of Bosnian authorities in bringing the country closer to NATO membership is full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) based in The Hague, and apprehension of indicted war criminals still on the run.
"Too many indicted war criminals are still at large. That fact calls into question the dedication of the leaders of Bosnia-Herzegovina to Euro-Atlantic values," de Hoop Scheffer said.
The NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) in Bosnia has already detained roughly one third of the indictees and "will continue to support efforts to bring indictees to justice", he added.
"It remains however the responsibility of the local authorities to arrest those indicted for war crimes".
The soldiers of DutchBat III have escaped serious criticism from UN investigators studying the Srebrenica massacre
Only the then Dutch Minister for Development and Ambassador to the UN, Jan Pronk, in conversation in Tuzla in late July, was willing to use the word 'genocide' in connection with what had happened on the Dutch watch in Srebrenica.
His comments, made as DutchBat III were celebrating their safe arrival in Zagreb, drew severe criticism in the Dutch Parliament. The Christian Democrat Party called his comments 'irresponsible', the Liberals 'very unwise'.
Yet even the Dutch Minister of Defence, Joris Voorhoeve (VVD), soon began to talk of 'genocide' once their men were safe. Pronk started a series of programmes for the survivors of Srebrenica. Most of these programmes were set up in and around Tuzla and financed without publicity. 'We are partly to blame. It's shame,' he conceded in 1996.
HISTORIC SHAME MORE THAN ONCE ☹
[Update-1]
Many demonstrated for the first time today, they see an accumulation of Israeli crimes | De Volkskrant |
‘The demonstration was mainly focused on the Dutch government. Like: why do you continue to support the Israeli government? Why do you continue to buy weapons? Why not a boycott? There was a man with a sign saying: ‘Genocide is not in the main points of the agreement’. A telling moment was when someone started singing ‘Shame on you, Schoof’ halfway through a speech. That swelled in the crowd.’
There have been demonstrations against the suffering that Israel is causing in Gaza for some time now, but never before had so many people taken to the streets in the Netherlands. Has anything changed, do you think?
‘For many people I spoke to, it was the first time. They spoke of an accumulation of all kinds of crimes by the Israeli government. The attack on the aid workers, who were killed by the Israeli army and thrown into a mass grave, was mentioned a lot. And that Israel trampled on the ceasefire in March by continuing to bomb.
‘Previous protests often came from specific groups, such as the Muslim community or students. Now you see that the sentiment is more widely supported. I saw people of all ages. There were many people with children. I also spoke to seasoned demonstrators who have been there since the beginning. They are very happy with this broad support.'
