On saturday, Dutch national television broadcast the arrival of the wise old white man Sinterklaas, arriving on the boat with his blackface helpers in a place called Maassluis. There were coaches with protestors travelling towards Maassluis, ready to collect more protesters in Rotterdam. In Rotterdam, the police blockaded the coaches and told the protesters that they were not allowed to travel further and would have to wait in the bus. The protesters were told that the municipality of Rotterdam had made this emergency decision the night before. When the lawyer for the protesters, Michiel Pestman, arrived to speak to the protesters, he was arrested too. The police used violence against the group of protesters that had been waiting in Rotterdam for the coaches. Meanwhile the protesters that had been inside the coaches went out and walked through Rotterdam. The police followed this group of walkers, surrounded them and arrested them too. Freedom of speech is a fundamental freedom, and it is structurall stifled in this illegitimate way in the Netherlands. It is a good example of state repression. Contrast this with the fact that an extreme right wing neo-Nazi group were allowed to demonstrate in Maassluis on the same day. Newspapers reported, and the police boasted on social media that they, the police, would be undercover in blackface, as part of the parade. In 1998 New York police and fire fighters were fired for appearing in blackface because "The First Amendment does not require a Government employer to sit idly by while its employees insult those they are hired to serve and protect.’ In the United states you can be fired for appearing in blackface, but in the Netherlands, it is part of your duties to insult the black population. Please sign this and ask others to do so.