Published
Wed, Jul 14, 2021, 17:15
- A hearing is scheduled for Friday, July 16th, in The Hague.
Over 40 event organisations in the Netherlands are taking the government to court over its decision to shut nightclubs and postpone festivals for another month.
The cabinet's U-turn came after a spike in Covid-19 cases among under-30s, less than a fortnight after restrictions on indoor and large-capacity events were lifted. Festival organiser ID&T launched legal proceedings days after prime minister Mark Rutte announced the decision. A hearing is scheduled for Friday, July 16th, in The Hague.
"They didn't even take us into consideration," ID&T chief operating officer Rosanne Janmaat told Resident Advisor. "They just wiped us from the board so we felt that we didn't have another choice. What's happening here is we are losing a piece of our cultural heritage."
ID&T, which runs Mysteryland among other festivals, has attracted other organisations as co-plaintiffs, including DGTL, ZeeZout and F1 Dutch Grand Prix Zandvoort.
"Now we have over 40 organisations including organisers within dance, rock festivals and sporting events," Janmaat explained. "They are all joining forces with us and that strengthens our feeling that the decision to do this is the right one."
The new restrictions, though temporary, will only allow for seated events with a limited capacity, meaning large-scale gatherings—until at least August 14th—will be forced to cancel. The 40-strong group is urging the government to allow events that meet Fieldlab conditions to go ahead.
"These conditions for organizing a safe event, without social distancing, have been drawn up on the basis of carefully conducted research and extensive experiments that Fieldlab Events carried out earlier this year, and have also been endorsed by the Dutch government," the press statement reads.
Of the 129,000 people to attend one of the government-backed Fieldlab experiments, 103 tested positive for Covid-19. The results of the club pilot, however, are yet to be published.
ID&T has lost 95 percent of its revenue a year and a half into the pandemic and is worried the policy change will force more layoffs and cause further damage to its supply chains. "Our teams, our supplies and everyone who's involved in our chain, we're not alone in this, Janmaat said.
"It's artists, it's venues, it's a lot of contractors and to have to put them on hold again is just unfair." She was also keen to note the government's changing approach to restrictions, explaining that originally they were justified as a way to keep hospital numbers low. Most recently, the reasoning has shifted and the policy is now linked to the rise in infections.
"You can't change the narrative from 'ok we need to get the number of hospitalised people down' and now all of a sudden it's the number of people that are getting the virus," Janmaat said. "If there is a new strain then this is going to go on and on."
With the most vulnerable groups vaccinated, including the elderly, many believe it's time for the government to allow nightlife and large-scale events to return.
"Young people are also part of society and they have not been part of the decision at all," Janmaat said. "They need a place to develop, to feel free. They have that right, just as I had that right when I was 18 and the people that are now vulnerable had too. We need to look for a sustainable solution."
Update: 12:50 PM CET on Friday, July 16th
Summary proceedings filed by ID&T against the government are currently on hold, which means the planned court hearing will not be taking place today, July 16th. ID&T has begun compensation talks with the cabinet.
Photo credit: Ferdy Damman