◆2 sources
Unrest broke out in Amsterdam’s Floradorp after Mayor Femke Halsema rejected residents’ alternative plan for the traditional New Year’s fire. Young people lit fires in the street and erected barricades.
8 sources
Mayor Femke Halsema disbanded a pro-Palestinian demonstration in central Amsterdam after several hundred people gathered on Dam Square and then took a route other than the one agreed with police. Police stopped the march at Waterlooplein as it headed towards the Stopera, where the Mobile Unit later intervened. A counter-protester was escorted away after tensions briefly rose on Dam Square. Some demonstrators displayed banners expressing support for Hamas, including one reading “We support Hamas”. Halsema and the police chief described this as shocking and distasteful. The Public Prosecution Service said the texts were not punishable. By the following morning, several windows at the Stopera had been painted red or damaged and “BDS NOW” had been painted at the entrance. The city said it would file a police report; one report said it was not known how many windows had been affected.