Liberation Day festivities pass off smoothly

Hundreds of thousands of people celebrated Liberation Day at concerts across the country on Wednesday evening and police said there were no serious incidents.


In Utrecht and Zwolle so many people turned up to party that officials put a cap on visitor numbers.
The festivities ended with the traditional concert on the Amstel river in Amsterdam attended by queen Beatrix.
The authorities decided against imposing any extra security on the event, despite the panic caused by a man at the Remembrance Day commemorations in the capital on Tuesday.
Freedom
Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende kicked off the Liberation Day festivities in Roermond on Wednesday, which celebrate 65 years since Germany surrendered and the end of World War II.
The theme of this year’s festivities is freedom around the world. ‘We have to be careful with freedom,’ the prime minister said in his opening speech. ‘We have to take care that everyone can benefit from it and cherish it.’
In Wageningen, where Germany surrendered on May 5,1945, about 500 Canadian veterans marched through the streets or rode in the backs of restored World War II trucks to the applause of spectators.
About 2,500 Canadian students are in the country for the ceremonies, meeting with veterans and touring cemeteries and former battlefields, CBC reported.
Earlier, Labour leader Job Cohen said he believed May 5 should be a public holiday every year. At the moment it is an official holiday once in five years.
But making it an annual event would stress how important freedom and freedom of speech is, Cohen told news website nu.nl.

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