EDRI-gram - Number 3.1, 12 January 2005 has the latest round of EU digital rights stories, including one about Dutch police making instant use of a new law to fine people who don't produce IDs on demand.
"On 1 January 2005, a new law went into force in the Netherlands obliging everybody above the age of 14 to always show ID when asked. Dutch police has immediately started to use the new power by fining dozens of citizens for not being able to present a valid passport, drivers license or ID card. Most citizens were given double fines, for example for riding on a bicycle without proper illlumination, or hanging out in groups and thus presenting a possible threat to the 'public order'. In the city of Rotterdam alone, 20 fines were issued within the first 24 hours of the new obligation. Two of the first fines that became public have raised serious concerns about the actual intentions of the police with their new power.
A young man attended the new-year's reception of the municipality of Nijmegen, and held up a banner protesting against the policy to evict asylum seekers. He was arrested and asked to show ID. When he refused to do so, the police took him to the local police station and held him for several hours. In the end he was sent home without a fine, but his right to demonstrate was undermined completely.
A second incident was covered in the eight o' clock national TV news on 8 January 2004. A 14-year old girl in the municipality of Wijk en Aalburg was arrested in the very early hours of 1 January 2005 for not being able to show ID, together with 20 other kids. She spent 5 and a half hours in a police cell, without any indication of any possible misdemeanour other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time."
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