As night falls, “you are not alone” about the Stadhuisplein in the center of Utrecht. During this “solidarity action”, a thousand Utrecht residents, arm in arm or hand in hand, form a circle around the town hall to speak out “against exclusion”. Some hold candles. There is long and hard clapping.
The action was organized by local branches of GroenLinks-PvdA, D66 and PvdD, together with social organizations such as New Neighbors Utrecht (for newcomers to the city). The Utrecht action is not an isolated event. There were also meetings in Amsterdam and Leiden on Thursday evening.
“The election results cause many people great concerns and fears,” says organizer Charifa Soulami, also chairman of GroenLinks Utrecht. “We are all here to support them and each other. We will not allow ourselves to be separated here in Utrecht.”
The action is “not a protest” against the election results, the organization emphasizes. Co-organizer Wim Datema of New Neighbors: “That’s not what it’s about. The result is democratic, but it does have consequences for the people in our city. The eight-year-old son of a Syrian friend of mine asked this morning: should we leave the country now? You can’t help but let it be known: you are safe here.”
‘A fever dream’
Melissa Schipper (23), Thijsje Laan (23) and Liesje Bruinsma (25) – all active in the art sector – want to show their “dissatisfaction” with the result during the action. They find it “unreal”. “I am especially afraid that people have forgotten who Wilders is,” says Bruinsma.
She refers to his “less Moroccans” statement. “He talks about a softer tone, but that does not mean that the policy is also softer.” The friends do not see the solidarity action as a protest against the election results. “We are not against democracy,” says Schipper. “I am happy that we live in a country with voting rights.” Bruinsma: “We are only against the positions of the PVV.”
“The past twenty-four hours are like a fever dream,” says a 28-year-old social worker who wants to remain anonymous because of her work (“I also meet PVV voters there”). “It feels unreal and unsafe. As if all it takes is something to happen and then it goes wrong. I don’t know how far this stop on migrants goes or what happens to the people who are already here. Where is the border? Does it also apply to people with a migration background like my parents?”
Hard core FC Utrecht
An hour after the solidarity action, Antifa organizes its own demonstration on Stadhuisplein, where a few hundred people remain. Antifa slogans alternate with “Free Free Palestine“, “PVV away with it” and “Not then, not now, never fascism again.” The youngest audience – mainly young people in their twenties – remains, and quickly gets into a clash with PVV supporters who have come to the demonstration.
The thirty counter-demonstrators – dressed in black hoodies – in turn chant “AZC away with it” and sing “Sinterklaas, and of course Zwarte Piet”. According to a police officer present, the men are part of the hard core of FC Utrecht. The police manage to keep the groups apart with dozens of officers, riot vans and officers on horseback. As the counter-protesters are led away, the Antifa protesters continue to chant: “Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here.”