Dutch Daily Briefing · Episodes
The Riots That Weren't, and a Tax Plan Still Stuck
Saturday's feared 'Gen Z' riots mostly didn't happen. Police in The Hague arrested 34 people, most of them teenagers, and prosecutors want triple sentences. Weekend talks at the Catshuis ended without a tax-plan deal, which sets up a showdown in parliament on Wednesday. Also today: a first-ever migrant boat rescue off Zeeland, a missing Peter Greenaway film paid for partly with Dutch money, a professor's AI twin, and the bats that are throwing off your rain app.
Sunday, 1 November 2026 · 15 min
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- Feared ‘Gen Z’ riots fizzle: Police in The Hague arrested 34 people, mostly aged 15 to 18, and prosecutors want triple the usual sentences. (NL Times, NOS)
- No tax deal at the Catshuis: The cabinet still lacks a majority for its tax plan, and the House votes on 12 November. (NOS, NU.nl)
- Migrant boat rescued off Zeeland: Thirty-eight men without life jackets were rescued from an engineless rubber boat drifting near Breskens on Saturday. (NL Times, NU.nl)
- Delayed road projects mean more traffic jams: The construction institute EIB estimates that shelving 22 road projects will add 16 million hours of congestion a year. (NL Times)
- Amsterdam’s homeless office closed for weeks: Staff absences closed the walk-in office in Amsterdam-West in early October, and it hopes to reopen on 2 November. (Het Parool)
- The Film Fund and the film that never came out: Nieuwsuur and NRC found the fund paid over 550,000 euros to Peter Greenaway’s Lucca Mortis without required conditions being proven. (NOS)
- A professor’s AI digital twin: Jan Rotmans, who has metastatic prostate cancer, is having an avatar built to give lectures after he dies. (NOS)
- Bats versus the rain radar: Poplars blocking the KNMI radar at Herwijnen are spoiling rain forecasts, but West Betuwe won’t let them be pruned yet. (NOS)
What’s on in Amsterdam (Sunday 1 November)
- Klaus Mäkelä conducts Mahler’s Seventh Symphony with the Concertgebouw Orchestra: Mahler conducted this symphony’s Dutch premiere with the same orchestra in 1909. (Sunday 1 November, 14:15–15:40, The Royal Concertgebouw, Oud-Zuid)
- Glass, made in antiquity: The show has over 200 ancient glass objects, plus TU Delft research using a nuclear reactor and X-rays. (Sunday 1 November, 10:00–17:00, Allard Pierson, city centre)
- BooyaKa Festival: The Art of Music: An afternoon of organ, piano and DJ sets with talk about love, in a Keizersgracht church. (Sunday 1 November, doors 15:30, until 19:00, Keizersgrachtkerk, Keizersgracht 566, canal belt)
More on in Amsterdam
- CELLOFEST François Salque, Hermine Deurloo, Gwilym Simcock and Vincent Peirani: Harmonica, accordion and piano players who first met in 2024 team up with cellist François Salque on Sunday 1 November. (20:00 - 21:00, Bimhuis)
- Die 12 Cellisten der Berliner Philharmoniker: The cello ensemble plays twice on 1 November at Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, and only the 21:00 show still has tickets. (18:30 - 19:45, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ)
- pluko: The producer started on SoundCloud in 2016 at age 16 and signed early with Avicii’s label. (19:00, Melkweg)
Also in the news
- Police apologise for passing animal activists’ identities to wholesaler Hanos: Police admit they had no legal basis for giving seven protesters’ names and addresses to Hanos, and asked for them to be deleted. (NOS)
- Privacy watchdog warns about AI deciding whom debt collectors chase first: Debt collection agencies are using AI to work out who they can recover money from. (NL Times)
- Cambuur–Go Ahead Eagles abandoned after fireworks from away fans: Saturday’s match was stopped in the 82nd minute with Cambuur 4-0 up, and that score stands as the result. (NOS, NU.nl)
- Soviet war cemetery in Leusden vandalised again: The monument and memorial wall were daubed with slogans like ‘Fuck refugees’, months after 150 graves were painted in July. (NOS, NU.nl)