Artists protest against culture funding cuts

Around 75,000 people attended anti-cuts events across the country.

The protests followed the Dutch parliament's approval on Thursday of plans to raise the sales tax from 6 per cent to 19 per cent on tickets to theatres, cinemas, rock concerts and other cultural events.

The new right-wing administration has also pledged to cut arts funding by €200 million (£171m) in the next five years.

In Amsterdam musicians, presenters and comedians gathered on the Leidseplein to hear one-minute speeches, sing protest songs and scream against the regressive plans.

Members of the public gathered in The Hague after theatres and cinemas closed to listen to a trumpeter from a local orchestra play The Last Post and hold a minute's silence.

Organisers warned that the cuts will narrow access to culture.

"A 13 per cent rise in sales tax hits all of the public because tickets get more expensive," they said.

"By cutting culture budgets and raising tax on tickets culture will become an elitist pastime and less accessible for people with less money."

Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the neoliberal VVD party presides over a right-wing coalition with the Christian Democrats and the xenophobic Freedom Party, led by Geert Wilders.

Mr Wilders has characterised state-sponsored cultural programmes as a "left-wing hobby."