Date: Thursday, 14 June 2018
The mayor of the municipality of Veldhoven last year was not allowed to issue an emergency order for the banning of a multi-day conference of the foundation Dutch Eritrean Platform. This determined the court of East Brabant today. The foundation and conference participants had stepped to court in order to be able to file a compensation.
The foundation and the conference participants argue, among other things, that the mayor was not authorized to issue an emergency order because there was no serious disorder or the fear of it. In addition, the mayor would have made insufficient efforts to allow the conference to continue and to have insufficiently informed of the availability of police in case the announced demonstrators actually appeared.
According to the mayor, the day before the conference, there was a persistent pattern of serious disorder, there was an explicit risk of repeated and increasing disruptions of public order and the conference center could not guarantee the safety of the participants in the conference. After the police had indicated that they could not guarantee the safety of the attendees and the police had also requested the mayor to make use of his emergency powers, the burgomaster found that other less restrictive measures than the prohibition of the conference could suffice. an emergency order.