On Wednesday morning, the police arrested a man and woman who shouted slogans during the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to the University of Amsterdam in the Amsterdam Science Park. The two ran towards the French president and shouted French slogans. They were arrested for disturbing public order, the police said.
Macron visited the UvA together with King Willem-Alexander as part of his state visit to the Netherlands.
Footage shows how the demonstrators run towards the president and king, but are stopped by security long before they get close. According to an ANP photographer, the man was knocked to the ground by six security guards and taken away. A security guard also held a hand over the demonstrator’s mouth. The man was later taken away by about five officers. It is not known what he called and why he was there. It is still unclear how the woman was arrested. It is also not known what the two shouted.
Hypocrisy
On Tuesday, a speech by the French president in The Hague was interrupted by demonstrators disturbed. They labeled Macron the “president of violence and hypocrisy” and rolled out several banners. The demonstrators referred to the ongoing demonstrations in France in response to a controversial pension law.
Security has evicted the three from the building, the theater says. They have not been arrested. The police made one arrest, but that was before the speech had started. He was arrested for ‘possible disorder and violation of the APV through the use of alcohol’. Outside, more than twenty people protested, under the watchful eye of the police.
The theater in The Hague where a speech was given has no idea how the activists managed to smuggle in a banner. Security surrounding the lecture, hosted by the Nexus Institute, was tight. Only small bags were allowed in and all spectators and their bags had to go through security gates.
Weeks of protests
In France, protests have been going on against Macron for weeks because he pushed through a pension reform while parliament sees nothing in it. The demonstrators in The Hague accused the president of acting undemocratically and unnecessarily harsh action against demonstrators. Macron himself emphasized that he was also democratically elected and that the demonstrators cannot simply ignore this.
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the protesters’ protest ‘not very appropriate’. Freedom of expression is ‘a great asset’ in both the Netherlands and France, but ‘it would have done the demonstrators justice and done justice to the president if they had given Macron the space to first give his speech and then ask questions’. According to the ministry, there had been an opportunity for a meeting.
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