Jetten’s D66 conference speech interrupted by Gaza hecklers

Prime minister Rob Jetten’s speech to his D66 party’s weekend conference was interrupted by hecklers protesting against Israel’s military intervention in Gaza.

Jetten was briefly led from the stage by security guards after demonstrators twice shouted out at the start of the speech in the Amsterdam RAI arena on Sunday.

The prime minister initially said the protesters could stay in the conference hall if they sat down “so you don’t bother those sitting behind you”, but after the second interruption a handful of demonstrators were escorted out of the hall.

The demonstrators wore T-shirts with slogans such as Bloedcoalitie (“blood coalition”) and Liberaal/Neutraal/Genocidaal (“liberal, neutral, genocidal”).

Jetten said: “I see that you want to highlight the situation in Gaza and I understand that very much.”

Afterwards he told RTL Nieuws that the protest had been respectful. “The right to demonstrate and have your say is one of the strengths of our democracy, as long as it’s done respectfully, and that’s what we saw here in the hall.”

Budget delays

The conference marked the 60th anniversary of the foundation of D66 and the first time a prime minister had addressed the autumn gathering.

Jetten said his cabinet had made progress in several areas, such as drawing up plans to cut nitrogen pollution and preventing the online government services portal DigiD being sold to an American company.

But he admitted it had taken longer than hoped for his government to make a deal with opposition parties to pass next year’s budget. The minority coalition of D66, CDA and VVD needs the support of at least two other parties in both houses of parliament.

Jetten said he had seen signs during talks last week that parties “from left to right” were prepared to negotiate, proving that “broad co-operation is possible with this generation of politicians”.

The prime minister also insisted he would not give in to the “anti-Dutch forces that want to destroy our democracy from within”, referring to the violent demonstrations in The Hague a week ago that featured “appalling extreme right-wing slogans and even Nazi salutes”.

Jetten vowed that the “wave of optimism” would ultimately triumph over the loudest voices, echoing his predecessor Mark Rutte, who called on people to vote for “doers, not yellers”.

“They might shout louder, but we get more done,” Jetten said.