Police in Venlo on the border with Germany in the southeast of the Netherlands arrested 37 people during a demonstration staged on Saturday by the far-right Dutch People's Union (NVU). Officers on horseback charged the crowd to keep rival protesters apart after left-wingers tried to confront the neo-Nazis. Police picked up one NVU member for making a Hitler salute and 36 left-wingers were detained, mostly for not carrying proper ID, during the trouble, 22 of them Germans. Around 400 officers were deployed to police the NVU demonstration which was attended by about 60, mainly German, radical right-wingers. Police officers from Germany were deployed at Venlo station. The council authorities in Venlo initially banned the demonstration. They said the police would be overstretched because of other events taking place in the town at the same time. The NVU challenged this in the court and won an injunction overturning the council ban.
Radio Netherlands Worldwide
