The Dutch events industry hosts Unmute Us! protests

Last week, the Dutch government announced nightclubs remain closed until 31st October at the earliest. 

The plans laid out by Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Health Minister Hugo de Jonge include removing mandatory social distancing from universities and higher education institutions by the end of August, with a limit of 75 to a class & masks must still be worn inside buildings.

Also, restaurants, cafés, and bars will be able to stay open until midnight with curfew to reopen the next day at 6am until at least 19th September & customers must be seated, with no option of standing in venues.

Prime minister Mark Rutte said:

“I realise that this is again a hard message and that more was hoped for. The work in these sectors can continue, but with one hand tied behind their back for the time being,”

In response to this, the events industry has launched the ‘Unmute Us!’ Campaign, resulting in staged protests across six Dutch cities from 2pm to 5pm last Saturday 21st August. The protests took place in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Eindhoven, Groningen, Nijmegen and Utrecht.

The campaign to date has amassed over 1,500 organisations supporting the Unmute Us! Campaign and their message. The protests were due to feature performances from DJ Bone, Joris Voorn, and Sandrien.

The main campaign message behind the protests is:

“Stop the arbitrariness! We require that events can take place again at full capacity as of September 1st, 2021… Don’t hold us down any longer!”