Huge turnout at a second Dutch protest seeking government action against Israel

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Tens of thousands of demonstrators in the Netherlands donned red clothing and marched Sunday to protest the Dutch government’s policy toward Israel, exceeding the turnout for a similar event in May.

Protesters walked a 3-mile (5-kilometer) loop around the center of The Hague to symbolically create the red line they say the government has failed to draw to halt Israel’s campaign in Gaza.

“I don’t want to be complicit in these horrendous crimes happening there and I want to speak out,” protester Marin Koning told The Associated Press.

The human rights groups and aid agencies — including Amnesty International, Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders — that organized the march estimated the peaceful crowd at more than 150,000 people. Local media put the numbers closer to 100,000.

In neighboring Belgium, around 75,000 people, many of them also clad in red, hit the streets in the capital Brussels, police said. Several rallies have been held to draw attention to Israel’s actions in Gaza, but Sunday’s was the biggest rally so far.

The Dutch protest sent a “clear signal,” according to Marjon Rozema of Amnesty International Netherlands. Dutch officials must “act now, at both the national and international level, to increase the pressure on the Israeli government,” she said in a statement.

As during the first Red Line protest in May, the march took the crowds past the Peace Palace, headquarters of the United Nations’ International Court of Justice, where last year judges ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza.

Israel strongly denies that it is violating international law in Gaza.

The event takes place weeks after the country’s ruling four-party coalition collapsed, leaving the Netherlands with a caretaker government when it hosts a summit of NATO leaders at the end of June.

Hamas started the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, with militants killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 251 hostage. The militants still hold 53 hostages, fewer than half of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s military campaign has killed over 55,300 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It says women and children make up most of the dead but doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed more than 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The European Union’s top diplomat, meanwhile, convened an emergency meeting of the 27-nation bloc’s foreign ministers on Tuesday to discuss the conflict between Israel and Iran.

The meeting, to be held via video link, “will provide an opportunity for an exchange of views, coordination on diplomatic outreach to Tel Aviv and Tehran, and possible next steps.” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas’s office said Sunday.

“We will continue to contribute to all diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions and to find a lasting solution to the Iranian nuclear issue which can only be through a negotiated deal,” it said.

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Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war