Police in The Hague arrested 34 people, most of them teenagers, during a youth protest in the centre of the Dutch city on Saturday 31 October, after online calls for gatherings prompted a heavy police presence and led shops to board up their windows.
Most of those detained were minors, aged about 15 to 18, according to Dutch media reports. Police said the arrests were for offences including public acts of violence, illegally using fireworks, violating the ban on face-covering clothing, and failing to follow police orders. One officer was taken to hospital with suspected hearing damage after protesters threw lit fireworks at police.
What happened in The Hague
The gathering centred on the shopping district, the Malieveld, the Plein and Korte Voorhout, and the area around The Hague Central Station. Mayor Jan van Zanen issued an emergency order covering those areas, allowing the Mobile Unit (Mobiele Eenheid) to act quickly, separate groups and disperse crowds.
Police dispersed a crowd near the central station on Saturday afternoon and urged people to avoid the city centre. By about 19:00, calm had largely returned, and police said large-scale looting and vandalism had been prevented.
The protest followed anonymous online calls for so-called ‘Gen Z’ gatherings in several Dutch cities. No protest had been formally registered with the municipality, and it remains unclear who was behind the online calls, according to Dutch reporting. Some of the online messages encouraged looting and vandalism, which is why businesses took precautions.
Shops boarded up as a precaution
Retailers in central The Hague boarded up shop windows with plywood or closed temporarily. Bas Winkler, head of The Hague’s business association, said local stores could suffer losses in the thousands of euros from the extra security measures and temporary closures, and said he wanted to discuss with the municipality how to respond to such threats.
Some major retailers emptied display stock as a precaution. The precautions reflected fears of copycat looting seen elsewhere in Europe, rather than a confirmed plan to loot in The Hague itself.
Part of a wider wave across Europe
The Hague unrest was part of a wider wave of youth-led protests across Europe on 31 October. In France, police arrested about 565 people during a third consecutive weekend of demonstrations over living costs and education, with the government estimating 320,000 protesters nationwide. In Germany, demonstrations took place in more than 30 cities; police in Cologne arrested five people after disturbances at a Gen Z protest, and in Frankfurt some storefronts were smashed and goods stolen.
Related Emadan coverage: Hundreds of Thousands March Across France as Halloween Protests Turn Violent and Germany’s Gen Z Protests Turn Violent in Frankfurt.
In the Netherlands, the picture was calmer than feared: despite the arrests in The Hague, police prevented the large-scale looting that businesses had worried about. Authorities are now reviewing social-media posts for evidence, and the emergency order and arrests are likely to be examined as Dutch cities consider how to handle similar online protest calls in future.
What is known and what is not
Confirmed: 34 arrests in The Hague on 31 October, mostly teenagers; one officer hospitalised with suspected hearing damage; no large-scale looting or major vandalism in the city; an emergency order was in force for the centre.
Not confirmed: who organised the online calls, and whether any single grievance united the Hague crowd — the wider European protests covered living costs, housing, education and public services, but the Hague gathering itself was driven mainly by the anonymous online calls.
FAQ
Q: How many people were arrested in The Hague? A: 34 people, most of them aged about 15 to 18.
Q: Was anyone seriously injured? A: One police officer was taken to hospital with suspected hearing damage after fireworks were thrown at police.
Q: Did looting happen in The Hague? A: Police said large-scale looting and vandalism were prevented, though shops had boarded up as a precaution.
Q: Why were shops boarded up? A: Businesses acted on anonymous online calls for protests that some messages linked to looting, and on unrest seen elsewhere in Europe.
Sources
- APA — 34 people were detained at youth protest in The Hague
- Izvestia — 34 people were detained during a youth protest in the Netherlands
- China Daily/Xinhua — Another wave of protests sweeps Europe over various grievances
- Europesays/Belga — Wave of protests sweeps across dozen European countries
- AsiaOne — A third weekend of protests in France as youth-led rallies sweep Europe
