At JfP our mission is to investigate and uncover subversive threats to our democracies. We do this through multidisciplinary and multilayered research into anti-democratic actors, which we post in the form of detailed reports, investigations or news. However, we do not always post our findings and investigations. In some situations, we reach out to relevant institutions or people who trust in our expertise and can make meaningful use of our research.
In the recent weeks, we have been zooming into the events occurring in The Netherlands. On September 20, 2025, a demonstration at the Malieveld in The Hague escalated into violence. This incident occurred just weeks before the Dutch general elections scheduled for October 29. We are closely monitoring these developments as part of our mission to defend democracy and identify subversive activity.
Who was behind the Malieveld?
The September 20, protest on Malieveld was organized by a young Dutch conservative influencer known online as Els Rechts (“Rechts” meaning “right-wing”). Through a Gofundme campaign, she rose about 20.000 euros that went into organizing the event. Her posts were aimed at a conservative audience and intended to rally people against refugees and asylum seekers. According to her and other conservative influencers or political personalities, immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers pose a great danger to the country. From taking away from the limited housing, to straining the labour market and even raising the crime rate. Immigration and asylum seeking have become an extremely polarizing subject-matter.
What was the slogan that gathered about 3500 people? Genoeg = Genoeg (Enough = enough). This slogan was also reposted on a popular Facebook page called The Dutch Hooligan Scene, a group for football hooligans all over the country. This was an important factor. Many of the violent actors who engaged with the police and in destructive acts wore black clothing, face covers and carried flags featuring logos of Dutch football clubs.
However, the demonstration was not just an opportunity for chaos and destruction. Other participants shouted and chanted anti-asylum and anti-immigrant slogans and showed the Nazi salute. The ultraconservative organization Defend Netherlands also played an important role during the events. Some right-wing commentators have argued that the ANTIFA movement was also present. This likely increased the tension.
How did it end?
The violence culminated as a group of demonstration-goers headed towards the parliamentary building. On the way, they smashed the office windows of the party D66, a liberal political party in the Netherlands. In total, almost 40 individuals were arrested. A number of vehicles were set on fire and four police officers were wounded in the riot.
Because of this, the Dutch media has been extensively featuring the Malieveld events. They have started a discussion around political polarization, extremism, misinformation and disinformation. That is why we have decided to compile a list of all of our features on various Dutch news media outlets, articles, interviews and podcasts in order to make it easier for everyone to research the topic. Here you can also see another angle of our research and interaction with journalists and the media.
Our appearances
Barely 2 days after the event, we have participated in an interview on Pauw & De Wit together with Dilan Yeşilgöz, Elodie Verweij, Nine Kooiman and Marieke de Vries. This interview is accessible for free on YouTube , and has an accompanying article.
Our director, Jelle Postma has been featured on this article from nu.nl,in which he used our theoretical model of the anti-rights diamond to explain the behavior of some of the actors in the demonstration. RTL Nieuws has also featured Jelle in the following article about the Malieveld zooming in on the extreme violence that took place. AD news has also featured us in their article about the Malieveld. They also present the extreme levels of political violence, property destruction and hooliganism.
Lastly, NOS and Volkskrant have both given us the opportunity to showcase our research into political polarization. This further shows how fear is used to create unrest and lead to physical violence.
Thank you to all of the journalists and media workers who have reached out to us and trusted our expertise and research. We are glad to have contributed to a more nuanced discussion on the current state of our democracy. We are open for future collaborations or discussions.
In fact, if anyone has anything sensitive to report, about your rights being undermined, potential threats to democracies, disinformation, political conspiracies or potential leads for us to further research, we encourage you to contact us via our SafeSend platform.
