European Court of Human Rights deliveres a judgement on the case of Laurijsen and Others v. the Netherlands
The European Court of Human Rights (the Court) delivered a judgement on the case of Laurijsen and Others v. the Netherlands (application nos. 56896/17, 56910/17, 56914/17, 56917/17), unanimously holding that there had been a violation of Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association).
The case concerned a protest against the eviction of a squat at Passeerdersgracht in Amsterdam. The applicants were arrested for blockading the road in front of and near the squat and summonsed for disturbing public order and failing to comply with a police order to disperse, acts that were prohibited by the municipal by-law (Algemene Plaatselijke Verordening).
The Court considered that even if the aim of the demonstration had been to try to prevent the eviction of the Schijnheilig squat, that did not, of itself, remove the scope of protection of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly under Article 11 of the Convention. […] Moreover, the Court noted that the applicants had not been amongst the group of protesters who had been arrested and prosecuted for violent behaviour. […] the Court found that their participation in the protest fell under the scope of protection of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly under Article 11 of the Convention and that the domestic courts had failed to convincingly establish why it had been necessary to interfere with the applicants’ right to freedom of assembly.
