<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">UNDER PROTECTED AND OVER RESTRICTED<br class="">THE STATE OF THE RIGHT TO PROTEST IN 21 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES</div><div class=""><br class=""></div>“… abuses continue to occur in states where the law arguably does or should guard against such surveillance practices (the Netherlands)…<div class="">…</div><div class="">The research uncovered concerning reports about practices related to law enforcement paying unjustified visits to protesters’ homes, in some cases asking them not to attend planned protests (the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia). Moreover, in some of the countries analysed there were concerning reports of undercover police officers infiltrating protests social movements (the Netherlands, Spain).</div><div class="">…</div><div class="">In the Netherlands, political representatives have spoken of a “threat to national security” and organized crime in relation to protests, specifically XR’s March 2023 blockade of the A12 motorway in The Hague, where politicians stated that protesters “shouldn’t complain about being confronted with a water cannon”.</div><div class="">...</div><div class="">In the Netherlands, a group called We Promise reportedly faced numerous restrictions on their protests against a colonial statue in the city of Hoorn. One of their protests was ended by the municipal law enforcement “because their safety could no longer be guaranteed” due to “angry reactions from the public”. Following a complaint from the group, the mayor apologized to We Promise on behalf of the municipality. Similarly, anti “Black Pete” protesters (see Chapter 1.3.1 above) face numerous restrictions, many of which seem to originate in a fear of public order disturbances, where the authorities almost systematically fail to distinguish between peaceful protesters and the violent reactions that they face from members of the public. Instead of facilitating and protecting the protests from threats and violence, authorities restrict or cancel anti “Black Pete” protests based on “safety concerns” or fail to adequately investigate and sanction violence against peaceful protesters.</div><div class="">…</div><div class="">In the Netherlands, concerns were raised, including by academics, regarding the perceived differential treatment applied by the authorities to climate protesters – for example mass arrests carried out before and after peaceful actions, including peaceful acts of civil disobedience – compared to the treatment of protesting farmers."</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class=""><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur01/8199/2024/en/" class="">https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur01/8199/2024/en/</a></div><div class="">Zoek op ‘Netherlands’.</div><div class=""><div class="">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Hetty</div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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