National Monument in Amsterdam defaced with red paint on Remembrance Day

The National Monument on Dam Square was vandalised with red paint in the early hours of the morning on Remembrance Day (Dodenherdenking), May 4, just hours before the commemoration ceremony is set to take place.

WWII memorial on Dam Square vandalised 

Early in the morning on May 4, the National Monument in Dam Square was defaced with red paint. The word “genocide” was also tagged onto the monument, reports AT5.

The National Monument in Amsterdam is a WWII memorial that plays a central role in the Remembrance Day commemoration, when the royal family and dignitaries lay wreaths at the monument and hold two minutes of silence at 8pm to remember those killed in the Second World War and more recent conflicts.

Amsterdam war monument targeted several times

The memorial was also defaced with red paint in August last year. During a demonstration against the Israeli military's actions in Palestine, a protester sprayed "Never again is now" on the monument's base.

The municipality has cleaners working “with all its might” to get the Dutch monument ready for the Remembrance Day ceremony taking place in the evening, while police are investigating who is responsible for the vandalism. 

“This is not a protest, but vandalism and deliberate damage to our national monument,” wrote Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema (GroenLinks) in a social media post. “It hurts not only the survivors of the Second World War, but all the Dutch people for whom our national memorial is important.”