Prime minister Rob Jetten has condemned rioters who clashed with police for the second year in a row at a demonstration in The Hague organised by the far right.
Police broke up the gathering of around 300 people on the Malieveld on Saturday afternoon on the orders of acting mayor Richard de Mos.
Altogether 24 people were arrested for ignoring an emergency order to disperse and carrying weapons. All of them were released on Sunday pending further inquiries.
“They thew fireworks at police, committed vandalism and wore face-covering clothing, despite an agreement with the organisers that they would not,” a spokesman said.
Jetten said in a post on X that the rioters had “deliberately sought to confront police”. He added that they “used excessive violence against police, chanted repulsive extreme-right and anti-Semitic slogans and made Nazi salutes”.
March cancelled
A far-right group calling itself Wij Zijn Het Volk (“We are the people”) organised Saturday’s demonstration against immigration. The violence was less extreme than a year ago, when 1,000 rioters set fire to police cars, blockaded the A12 motorway and smashed windows at the offices of Jetten’s party D66.
Op het Malieveld is vandaag door relschoppers bewust de confrontatie gezocht met de politie. Er is excessief geweld tegen de politie gebruikt, er zijn weerzinwekkende extreemrechtse en antisemitische uitingen gescandeerd en Hitlergroeten gebracht.
Veel waardering voor het…
— Rob Jetten (@MinPres) September 19, 2026
Originally the group was due to march through the city, but De Mos cancelled the march after some members refused to remove face masks.
“That is why we cancelled the march and only allowed a demonstration on the Malieveld,” the acting mayor said. “When the violence continued, it was necessary to put an end to it.”
Photographer in water
A Spanish photographer who was covering the demonstration filed an official complaint against police after he was allegedly pushed into a canal by an officer.
Nacho Calogne, who works as a freelance correspondent, told NOS his accreditation was clearly visible. “Not one police officer came over afterwards to help me or check if I was OK,” he said. “Other photographers pulled me out.”
Police said they had made contact with the photographer and the Dutch journalists’ union NVJ to discuss possible compensation.
Three other journalists reported they were intimidated and attacked during the demonstration, according to PersVeilig, which campaigns for the safety of reporters.
