Members of Dutch UN Delegation Hold Hands in New York to Protest Anti-Gay Hate Crimes

Dutch politicians continued their campaign on April 3 against anti-gay hate crimes, by holding hands with each other. The latest group of politicians to take part were a group involved with the Dutch delegation to the UN.

The leader of the Netherlands’ Democrats 66 party tweeted an image of himself holding hands with a fellow party member as they entered negotiations about a new Dutch government on April 3.

Alexander Pechtold and Wouter Koolmees publicly held hands in solidarity with a gay couple who were assaulted for hand-holding in Arnhem over the weekend.

The photo was shared as part of a social media campaign set up by journalist Barbara Barend, which urges people of the same sex to hold hands and share a photo with the hashtag #allemannenhandinhand.

“Wij doen mee! Stop geweld tegen homo’s,” Pechtold captioned the tweet, which loosely translates to: “We do! Stop violence against gays.”

The couple, named as Jasper Vernes-Sewratan and Ronnie Sewratan-Vernes, were attacked with bolt cutters by a group of teenagers for holding hands while walking home from a party, according to a report. The teens in question have since been arrested.

The Dutch politicians’ supportive gesture was quickly gaining traction, and at the time of writing had racked up over 1,200 retweets. Other prominent Dutch figures participated in the campaign, including other politicians, a popular radio presenter and a football club. See some of them compiled below. Credit: Twitter/Sandra Pellegrom via Storyful