Images of a 2011 concert in the Netherlands interrupted by a man referring to Allah are being hijacked by the extreme right. Question asked by Camille on December 1st
They have asked us to verify an allegation that an orchestra of Dutch musicians rebelled in front of the Queen of the Netherlands against their leader, a Muslim guilty of religious proselytism. This story was notably shared on November 29 by Antoine Ardant, executive and former candidate in the general elections of Reconquest, Eric Zemmour’s far-right party. Two years ago, in December 2020, the Republican Resistance side also reiterated this.
The Dutch National Orchestra preparing to play for Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands leaves the stage!
The conductor, a Muslim, gives a lecture on the “beauty” of Islam and gives them the thinly veiled command to convert. https://t.co/URIZfvEWZt— Antoine Ardant (@AntoineArdant) November 29, 2022
If we go back to the internet archives, we find occurrences that are much older.
The images, with English subtitles, show a man taking the microphone in a concert hall where former Queen Beatrix is staying. According to the subtitle, he refers to Allah and recites a surah from the Koran. Then the orchestra starts to leave the stage and he explains: “Nothing happens, there is no bomb, stay seated. I’m not crazy. I am a servant of Allah and I invite you to faith, to believe in Allah, to worship Him. It’s the right way.” But the musicians keep leaving the stage. His microphone was then confiscated and he was arrested by the security service and the Dutch police.
According to Republican Resistance, “It happened in 2012, I think. The conductor, who happens to be Muslim, grants himself the right to lecture the Queen and the audience on the “beauty” of Islam, and he invites everyone to believe in Allah… The members of the orchestra on stage perform one Immediate withdrawal!” In his tweet, Antoine Ardant from Reconquete also claims that the conductor is Muslim.
The arrested person is not the conductor
This description is completely wrong. As the Dutch press reported at the time, the scene took place on September 3, 2011 in the Concertgebouw concert hall in Amsterdam. Queen Beatrix had come to attend the concert celebrating the centenary of the Society of Dutch Composers.
According to press reports, a man interrupted the beginning of the concert by climbing onto the stage, but he is never presented as the conductor. Quoted by media AT5, a police spokesman says the man was known to the police and has already been arrested for disrupting other events. The newspaper Volkskrant portrays him as a “39-year-old homeless person” who was then “compulsorily committed to psychiatric treatment”. Conductor of this evening was Etienne Siebens.
And so it’s been ten years since the Intox was in circulation.