At noon, 200 protesters from XR attempted to block the A12 highway. They were stopped by the police, addressed, and redirected to the designated demonstration location at Malieveld. The protesters refused this, after which they were repeatedly ordered to leave, which they ignored. The mayor then instructed the police to end the action. Prior to this deployment, it was explicitly warned that violence would be used if the protesters continued their action. When the protesters did proceed with their action, the mobile unit was deployed. Some protesters attempted to break through the line and were stopped with appropriate force. 

Arrests

During this action, 200 protesters were arrested for violating the Public Manifestations Act. They were taken to the ADO stadium and were all sent home later in the afternoon. Furthermore, some protesters were arrested for other criminal offenses such as vandalism and for assaulting a police officer. The officer was lightly injured and filed a report.

Police Violence

The police may only use force if there are no other options to achieve the desired goal. Even then, the use of force is subject to rules and conditions and regulated by law. The choice to apply force or which means of force is applied is not always the easiest and often has to be made under pressure. The use of force must be proportional and subsidiary, meaning appropriate to the situation. If we use force, we must always justify this and it will be assessed whether the force was applied correctly.