Unmute Us! Event sector to protest against Covid policy across the Netherlands today

The events sector will take to the streets in various cities again on Saturday under the name Unmute Us. This is because the Cabinet has not yet made any concrete commitments in response to the earlier protest on August 21, which generated headlines worldwide. The sector is calling on the Cabinet to adjust its pandemic response policy to allow events, such as festivals, to continue immediately.

The demonstrations begin from 2 p.m. in the cities of Amsterdam, The Hague, Eindhoven, Enschede, Groningen, Leiden, Maastricht, Tilburg, Nijmegen and Utrecht. Initially, there were also protests planned in Rotterdam, but the demonstrators there were asked to join the action in The Hague.

After the previous protest, Unmute Us representatives had a meeting with several members of the caretaker Cabinet, together with the Alliantie van Evenementenbouwers, a group representing all levels of stakeholders involved in sports, culture and entertainment. Unmute Us states that the ministers indicated that they would “include their arguments with their decision-making [before] the next press conference on September 14”, but that this was not a firm commitment. Because of that, they say there is nothing holding them back from protesting again.

At least 4,000 organizations have registered for the protest. On August 21, more than 70,000 people and over 2,500 organizations from the event sector demonstrated in cities including Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht.

Radio station 3FM will produce a special broadcast about the protest march between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., with 3FM DJs reporting live from the various cities involved.