The large Dutch festival organizer ID&T is filing summary proceedings against the government because of the tightened corona measures. “It is a disproportionate decision,” CEO Ritty van Straalen told ANP news agency.
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ID&T organizes the festivals Defqon.1, Mysteryland, Awakenings, Sensation, Thunderdome, Welcome to the Future, Amsterdam Open Air and Milkshake.
In summary proceedings, the festival organizer demands a clear decision from the government. Either festivals must be able to continue under the so-called Dutch Fieldlab conditions, under which test events have been set up, or the government must take its responsibility. ‘The latter is paying our bills through the guarantee fund’, says Van Straalen.
The lawsuit will go to court early next week. ‘We now want clarity’, says Van Straalen. ‘We can’t keep everyone on a leash until August 14. They can’t let us dangle anymore.’
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On Friday evening, resigning Prime Minister Mark Rutte and health minister Hugo de Jonge announced that multi-day events will no longer be held for the time being and that visitors to an event must sit down. They did so for fear of a further increase in the number of infections, especially among young people.
‘During the Fieldlab events, we made a lot of effort together with the government and we drew conclusions from this together. Now the government is pulling its hand and leaving us dangling’, says Van Straalen.
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The director of the Lowlands festival is also angry with the cabinet. The festival would take place from 20 to 22 August this year. This gives the Lowlands organization less than a week to set up the festival, if the tightening of the measures is lifted.
‘That is far too short and costs a lot of money. They radiate something of: “you just see how you solve it”,’ Lowlands director Van Eerdenburg told ANP news agency. “They just leave the sector dangling. The cabinet has been completely disconnected from reality.’
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The Dutch catering industry is also having a hard time with the new restrictions. The chairman of the Dutch professional association, Robèr Willemsen, wants additional financial compensation. ‘It is incomprehensible that the hotel and catering industry is the sector that draws the short straw time and again. This is really the easy way out; the problem lies in the fact that people no longer adhere to the basic rules, you can’t solve that with draconian restrictions on the catering industry’, he says.
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