The Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema had not been allowed to move demonstrators of climate action group Extinction Rebellion, who were present at an Amsterdam demonstration in September 2020, not ‘administratively’. Some of the activists were put in buses there and moved to another location in the city. That is what the Council of State has Wednesday certain.
On the day of the demonstration, streets and buildings were blocked, which went to the conditions that Mayor Halsema had set the demonstration in advance. The mayor then decided to terminate the meeting by using buses. After the demonstration at Gustav Mahlerplein, at the Zuidas in Amsterdam, Extinction Rebellion went to court.
The Amsterdam court ruled earlier that this should not have happened because the activists were deprived of their freedom. The municipality appealed and continued to move demonstrators in the same way in recent years. Also in November 2024 buses were deployed in a prohibited pro-Palestinian demonstration.
Just like the court of Amsterdam, the Council of State also believes that moving protesters in buses was a form of deprivation of liberty. To be able to do that, “a sufficiently specific legal basis” is required.
Mayor Halsema released himself at the time Article 175 of the Municipalities Act, which “formulates a general emergency authority”, but according to the Council that article did not suffice. Based on Article 176a It could have been: “that article offers the mayor the opportunity to stop people temporarily in a designated place”, which can also mean the relocation of protesters in buses.
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