Pro-Palestine protesters have disrupted a speech by Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans during National Liberation Day celebrations in the city of Wageningen.
The demonstrators interrupted the annual ceremony, chanting “Free Palestine” and other pro-Palestinian slogans.
During Brekelmans speech he highlighted the role of NATO and the EU in securing peace, noting that “for the first, German soldiers are marching in the parade”.
He warned against complacency, saying threats often build quietly.
As pro-Palestinian demonstrators interrupted, he reflected on the return of large-scale violence and posed a key question: “Do we look away, or do we stand up?”
The minister ended he address briefly responding to the protesters, saying, “I say that to the people we just saw here, hold each other tightly and don’t let each other play off each other, that is what we all have to do.”
According to police, five people were arrested after breaching security barriers.
The annual event in Wageningen marks the end of Nazi occupation in the Netherlands in 1945 and is a key date in the Dutch national calendar.
