Two Dutch nationalists have been jailed for six months for projecting “White lives matter”, “happy White 2023”, and other slogans onto a bridge in the Netherlands.
Right-wing activists John A, 26, from Zwijndrecht, and Daniil S, 36, from Landgraaf, were sentenced in a Rotterdam court on Thursday over the stunt, which lit up the Erasmus Bridge on New Year’s Eve, 2022, and made headlines around the world.
They were found guilty of group insult, incitement to discrimination and making public discriminatory statements during a trial in December, where both were also convicted of projecting slogans onto the Eindhoven Town Hall in February 2023, and John A was found guilty of doing the same at Alkmaar Town Hall a month earlier.
A message from the Erasmusbrug: WHITE LIVES MATTER
Please share pic.twitter.com/8o7ugGn9zH
— DutchDissident (@DutchDissident_) January 15, 2025
“Locals, people on the street and more than a million television viewers who were watching the count down to midnight were confronted with slogans which claimed people of colour and with darker skins were inferior to White people,” the court ruled as it handed down the six-month sentence, which was demanded by the Public Prosecution Service, Dutch News reported.
The activists were not in court for the trial or to hear the verdict, and did not speak to police after being arrested.
John A addressed the sentence in a video for his English-speaking supporters, saying: “Just a few hours ago I was sentenced to six months in prison for projecting ‘White lives matter’ on the Erasmus Bridge.
“Whether you agree with this message or not, this shows that the system is fundamentally antiwhite, and free speech is a lie.”
Popular Dutch news Telegram account DutchDissident said it a was a “dark day” for any Dutchman who cares about their people or freedom of expression.
“[The verdict] means that from now on, slogans like ‘White lives matter’ are officially deemed hate speech and thus illegal within the Netherlands.”
Right-wing Dutch MP Thierry Baudet last month called the prosecutors’ six-month prison sentence demand “insane”.
“That these texts are qualified as ‘criminal’ at all is a serious legal error. Nor would slogans such as ‘black lives matter’ or ‘happy diverse 2023′ be punishable,’ he wrote on X.
“Even if you think that these texts/projections would result in something ‘criminal’ – then this sentence is of course completely disproportionate.”
Header image: Left, John A reacting to the verdict (DutchDissident – Telegram). Right, the New Year’s Eve projection.
