Dutch Police Intervene In ‘Conspiracy Protest’
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
AMSTERDAM (Worthy News) – Dutch police confiscated the sound system at an anti-government rally in Amsterdam, where protest organizers played a sound recording by British conspiracy theorist David Icke after he was banned from entering the Netherlands.
Up to several thousand people gathered at Amsterdam’s Dam Square to protest against what they view as growing government control over their lives.
In a short recorded message, Icke told them it was “ridiculous” he had been banned from the Netherlands, long seen as a liberal nation.
Icke is the propagator of a conspiracy theory that claims humanity is secretly ruled by alien reptilians pretending to be humans. Critics claim the reptilians are an antisemitic metaphor for a partly Jewish elite.
Ahead of Sunday’s protest Icke, who wrote books about the alleged dangers, was banned from entering the country.
“By granting you access to the Netherlands, you are given a platform to publicize your theories in person, which can lead to disturbances of public order or the perpetration of violence in the Netherlands,” the country’s Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) said in a letter to Icke.
ANTI-SEMITE ALLEGATIONS
The Netherlands-based Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) had asked Amsterdam authorities and the Dutch justice and security minister to bar Icke from Sunday’s protest on Amsterdam’s Dam Square.
The Jewish advocacy group called Icke a “conspiracy theorist, anti-Semite, and Holocaust denier.”
CIDI also urged to move the rally away from Dam Square as this is the “place where our National Monument stands as a symbol of our freedom.” CIDI added that it “believes this man should not be given a podium in our country and certainly not there.”
On Sunday, the demonstrators eventually walked away from Dam Square through the center, including the Red Light District, which has come under pressure over reported human trafficking.
There was also a brief counter-demonstration by a small group calling themselves anti-fascists amid concerns about protesters supporting Icke.
It comes amid a growing debate about how far freedom of expression should go in the Netherlands. On Sunday, the protest remained mainly peaceful.