Nightclubs throughout the Netherlands are planning to open their doors again on February 12 in protest at their continued closure because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Clubs and cafes currently have to shut at 10pm, and have been closed for most of the two years since coronavirus hit the Netherlands.

Now a group calling themselves De nacht staat op (the night rises up) plan to open from next Saturday onwards. So far at least 24 clubs in Amsterdam have signed up to take part, alongside clubs in Rotterdam, Enschede, Utrecht, Haarlem and Groningen.

‘Our frustration reached boiling point at the last press conference in which we were not even mentioned,’ Pieter de Kroon from Amsterdam’s Chicago Social Club told NPO radio. ‘So club owners got together to see what we can do.’

The club owners argue that the impact of not having a night life is being under-estimated and that youngsters are flocking to illegal and unsafe parties instead.

All clubs which say they plan to open at the weekend will require coronavirus passes and have good ventilation systems, they say.

The sector is due to hold talks with economic affairs ministry officials on Monday. ‘The most important thing we want to get across is that our target group, youngsters, have had enough mentally,’ De Kroon said.

Last month, museums and galleries turned themselves into impromptu hairdressing salons and gyms to highlight the lack of consistency in government coronavirus policy.