Court overturns squatters' riot conviction fifteen years later: protest was a ‘peaceful assembly’

Fifteen years after the event, a court in The Hague has overturned the convictions of five activists involved in protests against the eviction of the Schijnheilig building in Amsterdam. The demonstrators had gathered at the Passeerdersgracht, where they were arrested by police for failing to disperse when ordered to leave. While a lower court initially dismissed the case, a subsequent Amsterdam court ruling imposed fines on the five participants for allegedly seeking confrontation with law enforcement, a decision later upheld by the Supreme Court.

The activists appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that the protest was a peaceful assembly protected under Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The European court determined that the police intervention had actually caused the situation to escalate and noted that the specific defendants were not linked to the violence that occurred. Following this landmark ruling, the Supreme Court ordered a retrial. The Hague court has now formally acquitted the individuals, concluding that their actions were protected by human rights laws and did not constitute criminal offenses.