Boarded Up for 'Gen Z' Saturday, and a Station on the Move

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• ‘Gen Z’ protest calls put Dutch cities on alert: Social media calls for Saturday youth protests, some urging looting, name Amsterdam, The Hague, Maastricht and Eindhoven. (NL Times, DutchNews.nl)
• Tax plan talks stall on both sides: Friday’s talks brought no deal, with Jetten refusing to give ground on the right-wing bloc’s nitrogen and abortion demands. (DutchNews.nl, NOS)
• Economy beats expectations: The Dutch economy grew 0.6 percent in the third quarter, with industry, including ASML, driving more than half of it. (NU.nl, NOS)
• Regional bus strikes could return: FNV and CNV called the employers’ final offer of 2 percent now and 4 percent next year inadequate. (NL Times)
• Asylum applications drop under new EU rules: First-time asylum applications fell 13 percent to about 5,900 in the third quarter, though they’re still up for the year. (DutchNews.nl, NOS)
• Tasered courier to file complaint: Police say the courier refused to show ID and grabbed an officer’s wrist, while his lawyer plans a criminal complaint. (NL Times, NOS)
• Rialto opens a cinema in a sewage silo: Rialto’s new five-screen Zeeburgereiland cinema starts try-out screenings on 3 November and regular films on 5 November. (Het Parool)
• Pieterburen seals pulled back from the brink: The Lauwersoog seal centre has put its bankruptcy filing on hold after raising 1.3 million euros in three weeks. (NU.nl, NOS)
• Vught’s station building takes a very slow walk: Vught’s 720-tonne station building from 1868 was moved 13.6 metres east in one piece to make room for a fourth track. (NOS)

What’s on in Amsterdam (Saturday 31 October 2026)

• Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Wynton Marsalis’s Cello Concerto: Hannu Lintu conducts the Netherlands Philharmonic, with Alisa Weilerstein playing the European premiere of Marsalis’s concerto. (Saturday 31 October, 20:15–22:15 (also Sunday 1 and Monday 2 November), The Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Oud-Zuid)
• Upon Us After: This free eastern docklands exhibition shows how objects carry memory, with work by Amra Khan, Naira Mushtaq and Sehr Jalil. (Saturday 31 October, 13:00–18:00, South Asian Contemporary Art Amsterdam, Oostelijke Eilanden)
• Halloween at Foodhallen: The Oud-West food market is holding a free Halloween event with music from the afternoon until late. (Saturday 31 October, 15:00–23:45, Foodhallen Amsterdam, Oud-West)

More on in Amsterdam

• Live At Our Place: Treehouse hosts evenings with two acts in the same genre, plus vegan bites from an Italian chef. (19:45 - 23:00, Treehouse NDSM, final days)
• AFROVISM: Artists explore dreams through music, painting, scent, light and live creation at this evening of arts and culture. (20:00 - 22:00, Felix Meritis)
• Only The Poets: The British indie pop quartet plays a ‘One More Fright’ Halloween show at Melkweg. (19:45, Melkweg)
• Meesters op de gitaar: Carlotta Dalia - van Bach tot Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Tuscan guitarist Carlotta Dalia, who has won more than forty competitions, makes her Amsterdam debut. (20:15 - 21:45, The Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam)

Also in the news

• Binance hack: possibly the biggest crypto theft ever: Binance says about $6.3 billion in crypto was hit, has frozen about $3 billion and will compensate users’ losses. (NU.nl, NOS)
• DDoS attack briefly knocks out DigiD and tax services: Many people couldn’t log in to government services on Friday afternoon, and Logius has reported the attack to police. (NL Times, NU.nl)
• Extra €2 levy on cheap parcels from outside the EU starts Sunday: From Sunday, consumers pay another 2 euros on top of 3 euros for small orders, which could raise almost 6 billion euros. (NU.nl)
• Cabinet wants smoking ban where children gather: The cabinet wants to ban smoking at places like petting zoos and after-school care. (DutchNews.nl)