The Hague shops board up for fear of Saturday looting

Several shops in the centre of The Hague were boarded up on Friday for fear of looting on Saturday. They include Ici Paris XL and Kruidvat on the Grote Marktstraat, and the clothing shop Guess a little further along. Calls on social media for a "Gen Z protest" urge people to go to shopping areas and loot or wreck shops.

Heerma said there are "worrying signals" of disorder in several Dutch cities this weekend. "Municipalities are working on it. The local authorities in several big cities are right on top of it," he said. "Demonstrating is a right, but think, and don't let yourself be dragged into disorder. You may demonstrate, but behave."

The online messages also draw a link with France, where young people's protests have led to riots, looting and arson in several cities. Some talk about heading for designer shops.

Bas Winkler, chair of the Hofkwartier BID and board member of the city-centre association Binnenstad in Bedrijf, said the shop owners acted on their own initiative. He said the municipality and police have told business owners they know about the signals. A police spokesperson said: "Of course we are preparing. We monitor the situation based on the information we receive, and on that basis we may take measures."

The national students' union LSVb advises students not to join. "There is no central organisation, no preparation has been done, and no one is there to keep people safe," it said. ROC Mondriaan, a vocational college in The Hague, told students that anyone who wants to demonstrate must do so "only peacefully and with respect for others".

A spokesperson for Amsterdam said the city has so far seen mostly AI-generated images on social media, and "no concrete signals yet" of large-scale spillover into public space.