# Hague alderman wants people who incited looting on social media to pay

> Alderman Richard de Mos wants to investigate whether people who used social media to call for looting and violence can be held financially liable for the damage.

Society · published 2026-11-01 11:15 · https://nlnow.nl/a/the-hague-looks-at-making-online-riot-inciters-pay-damages/

Richard de Mos, The Hague's alderman for Economy and City Centre, said on Sunday that he wants to find out how people who urged looting and violence on social media in recent days can be made to pay for the losses of Hague businesses.

After calls on social media, major protests were expected in The Hague on Saturday. No looting took place.

Many shops in the city centre had boarded up their fronts as a precaution and stayed closed. Business owners there put the damage at many thousands of euros, both for the cost of boarding up and for lost turnover. Shops that did open had few customers. Police had urged people not to come to the centre.

De Mos wants to look at the options together with business organisations and lawyers. He said it was a huge relief that the feared looting did not happen, but that the matter did not end there. "Why should business owners be left to foot the bill?" he asked.

A wave of youth protests is moving through parts of Europe, including France, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Albania and England. In the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium there was unrest at times on Saturday, but no major riots broke out. Most places have since calmed down.

In The Hague, police arrested 34 people in and around the Malieveld on Saturday. All of them have since been released, police said on Sunday. Elsewhere, the protests turned violent: in Frankfurt windows were smashed, shops looted and fires started, and in France about 290 people were arrested across the country.

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