The city hall, police and public prosecutors — dubbed "triangle" — said in a joint statement on Thursday that organizers of the Together for NL protest refused to cut the attendance to 3,500 people from 25,000 and keep the rally within central Museum Square. Police said they had been tipped off about preparations for violence.
"We are faced with a really irresponsible situation. The triangle is not confident that the organizers will manage the demonstration and we have no other choice but to ban the demonstration," Mayor Femke Halsema said in a statement.
The Netherlands went into another lockdown on December 19, closing cafes, bars, restaurants, museums, theaters, sports venues and all but essential stores in a bid to limit the spread of the Omicron variant. Halsema said the situation was "exceptional" because the new strain was spreading fast.