Ban shirts with ‘Free Palestine’ during Remembrance Day on Dam Square? ‘What Halsema plans doesn’t work at all’

Deny entry to a person who wears a shirt with ‘Free Palestine’ during the May 4 commemoration on Dam Square? That is not possible at all, says Jan Brouwer, professor of Law and Society and affiliated with the University of Groningen. “Freedom of expression comes first. Dutch law prohibits censorship.”

When asked, Brouwer responds to the measures taken by Mayor Femke Halsema during National Remembrance Day. She has made agreements about this with the police and judiciary and the National Committee 4 and 5 May. A shirt with such a print could cause disorder, Halsema fears.

To reduce the risk of disturbances, 10,000 instead of 20,000 people will be admitted this year. Everyone is searched at the entrance locks. Signs, flags or megaphones are not allowed onto the square. The 2024 Remembrance Day will be one of the most charged editions ever, partly due to the war in Gaza.

There is nothing wrong with limiting the number of attendees, Brouwer believes, but things get complicated when it comes to individual expressions, such as a slogan on a shirt. “There are two fundamental rights at play in this case,” says Brouwer. “Freedom of expression and freedom of demonstration. When it comes to an individual, you have freedom of expression and that is not what the mayor is about. What Halsema is planning doesn’t work at all. I understand her devilish dilemma. She wants to guarantee the safety of the people on Dam Square, but ‘Free Palestine’ is not a punishable slogan. Banning is simply not possible, no matter how annoying that is.”

Saint Nicholas

Ira Helsloot agrees with Brouwer. The professor of Security Management at Radboud University also responds to the fact that demonstrations are not allowed near Dam Square in the municipality of Amsterdam. “The right to demonstrate is being restricted in this way and that is not the intention. In the Netherlands you are allowed to demonstrate, you are allowed to make noise or put on a shirt. Look at the Sinterklaas arrivals of recent years. There too, demonstrators were allowed to visibly express their opinions. No one can simply refer them to an industrial estate.”

Helsloot has been following the coverage of National Remembrance Day in recent weeks: “It’s about the idea that we are a democracy. Then I think it is obvious that we have no regulations in which we can prohibit people from shouting ‘Free Palestine’. By the way, I think anyone who plans to do that is a sad twit, but that is my private opinion.”

The municipality has received signals of possible disorder, although the larger pro-Palestine organizations have said that they will not demonstrate that day. “We pick up signals here and there – also through public sources.” One demonstration has been registered: against PVV member and chamber chairman Martin Bosma. That protest should take place at the Torensluis at the Singel.

‘No lawyer is going to get burned’

In addition to the national event, another eighty local commemorations will take place in Amsterdam. Extra police are deployed at large locations. A total of 700 officers are working during the two minutes of silence in Amsterdam. That number was partly inspired by the opening of the National Holocaust Museum last month. Demonstrations were held against the presence of Israeli President Herzog. In addition, a spontaneous demonstration took place in front of the museum during which Holocaust survivor Rudie Cortissos was verbally abused.

“In any case, the limit remains that the mayor can never intervene in advance,” says Brouwer. “I also fear disorder, but the only option is to ban the entire meeting. An empty Dam.” Halsema also said this earlier Het Parool: “If you want to be sure that there are no disruptions, you actually end up with an empty Dam.”

The two professors will closely monitor the latest developments in the coming week until May 4. Helsloot: “If a lawyer were to stand up and go to court on behalf of a party, he would immediately be proven right. This issue is so sensitive that no lawyer is going to get burned by it.”

According to reports from the municipality, police officers will de-escalate during the commemoration. Action will be taken against a person with a flag or banner, but this may not lead to greater disruption. Halsema asks everyone to continue with the commemoration.