Pro-Palestine Protesters Sue Dutch Major For Breaking Up Rally

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent

WAGENINGEN, NETHERLANDS (Worthy News) – Five pro-Palestine activists have filed charges against a Dutch royal decorated army officer who ended their protest by dragging one of the demonstrators away.

Major Marco Kroon “assaulted” and “violently disrupted” a legal demonstration, the activists say

Kroon has denied wrongdoing, saying the incident happened during Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans’ speech at a Liberation Day event in the central city of Wageningen on May 5.

Two of the five protesters unfurled a banner reading, among other things: “Liberation for everyone: trans rights, free healthcare, free education, animal liberation, free Palestine.”

Kroon then intervened. Video footage showed him leaving the stage during the speech, walking onto the square, grabbing one of the protesters, and dragging him away.

Lawyer Willem Jebbink, who represents the protesters, said Kroon “dragged the demonstrator for several meters (feet), injuring him.”

Jebbink noted that his clients were demonstrating “peacefully and quietly,” and Kroon did not have the right or authorization to end that protest. “It raises the question of who was actually responsible for the disturbance here,” Jebbink told Dutch media.

MILITARY ORDER

Kroon received the Military Order of Willem, the highest military award in the Netherlands, for heroic actions in Afghanistan.

Since then, he has made several negative headlines, including in 2019 when he was sentenced to community service for headbutting a cop.

Besides Kroon, security personnel also intervened when during the same World War Two anniversary event in Wageningen a speech by Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof was interrupted by a smoke bomb.

One protester threw the smoke bomb onto the stage, where visiting Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was also present, footage showed.

In his speech, Tusk referenced the war in Ukraine, saying that Europe’s post-war era “of comfort and freedom was over.”

He said the lesson of 80 years ago was that nations “had to be united to overcome the challenges they face.”

Several World War II veterans also attended the event. They included Mervyn Kersh, aged 100, from Britain, and Nick Janicki, 101, from Canada, who lit the National Liberation Fire just after midnight on May 5.

HUNDREDS PROTEST

The public greeted them with a loud cry of “thank you.”

Yet 250 to 300 protesters, according to estimates, voiced opposition to the Israel-Gaza war and demanded the Dutch government speak out against it.

They held signs reading “Not then, not now, never again” and “Don’t give hate power.”

They also held an 80-meter (262 feet) long red banner, with accompanying text describing it as a symbol of “the red line the government refuses to draw,” referring to the Dutch government.

Yet the pro-Palestine rallies come at a time of concern among Jews about growing antisemitism in the Netherlands.

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