According to NOS, Utrecht's security triangle has received “concrete information from outside the city, which shows that a pro-Palestine organization intended to hijack the demonstration.” A letter from Mayor Sharon Dijksma to the city council would further state “that violence would not be shunned in the process.”

Trade unions AOb and FNV call it “terrible that all those students, teachers and employees who wanted to demonstrate tomorrow cannot let their voices be heard”.

LSVb president Abdelkader Karbache is also deeply disappointed, but there were not many alternatives. “The municipality would have banned the demonstration anyway,” he said.

Mayor Dijksma regrets that the demonstration cannot go ahead tomorrow. “I am very concerned that in an era when it is of great value to be allowed to express your opinion, there are individuals who deprive others of this freedom under the threat of violence.”