A man stormed the stage on Sunday while a relative was addressing demonstrators against femicide in Rotterdam. The man snatched the microphone from the speaker’s hands and began shouting “incomprehensible things.” The police have arrested him.
The police confirmed this to NU.nl after reporting by ANP. According to a reporter from the press agency, the man shouted something about polarization but did not seem to have a coherent story. A police spokesperson says he also said something about raising the retirement age.
The police quickly removed the possibly confused man from the stage at Schouwburgplein. The man interrupted the speech of Wim Hertgers. His 31-year-old daughter Sanne was murdered in 2013 by her husband because she wanted to divorce him.
The feminist group Dolle Mina’s is organizing a protest march against femicide on Sunday, which began with a number of speeches at Schouwburgplein. According to ANP, hundreds of people have been participating since 1:30 PM. Signs display texts such as “Not all men, but always a man.”
The protest is a reaction to the murder of two women in a week in July. It concerns a 38-year-old woman from Vlijmen, who was presumably killed by her boyfriend, and a 39-year-old woman from Gouda. The suspect was her ex-partner, who died shortly after the incident.