Under the heading ‘Woonoproer’, a protest will be held this afternoon in Haarlem against the current housing market. The organization expects about 500 people to attend the event.
The protest will start at 2 p.m. with a stage program in the Burgemeester Reinalda Park, where speakers will talk about the different sides of the housing crisis. This will take about an hour and a half, followed by a walk to the Grote Markt.
Residential riot is organized because ‘the housing crisis has not been so great since the Second World War. And the housing crisis is also significant in Haarlem,” spokesperson Lyra said earlier. “You also see the gentrification policy increasing. People have been living for years in, for example, Parkwijk or Schalkwijk, who are driven out of their neighborhood with the arrival of new, expensive apartments. Not to mention the waiting lists that house seekers are on.”
Got out of hand
Nina Hosseini, co-organizer of the protest, says he expects about 500 people. In previous housing protests, for example in Rotterdam and LeadSometimes things got out of hand and several people were arrested. Hosseini says that it is not up to the organization of Woonoproer to prevent this, but it is kept in mind.
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The police will also be present at this protest. “We will be present as usual at these kinds of demonstrations,” said a police spokesman. The exact number of agents that will be deployed is not known. “We never make statements about how many people we deploy”.
To conclude the housing protest, a route will be run from the Burgermeester Reinalda Park to the Grote Markt. It is not yet known whether roads will be closed. “This depends on the turnout,” says a spokesperson for the municipality. The municipality does keep in close contact with the organization to ensure that the demonstration runs as smoothly as possible.