Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla opened the COC’s Shakespeare Club at the H’ART Museum on Wednesday, telling dozens of drag queens and drag kings that behind the high heels and the glamour lies a great deal of courage – courage which, he said, “deserves admiration” and “deserves safety”.
The performers arrived by boat from the nearby Stopera, the city hall and opera house complex, at the museum’s jetty on the Amstel, where the ceremony was led by the drag figurehead Dolly Bellefleur.
The Shakespeare Club is a temporary community space run by the LGBTQI+ rights organisation COC Amsterdam. It runs until July 31 and opened three days ahead of WorldPride, the international Pride festival which Amsterdam is hosting for the first time from July 25 to August 8.
“We are a city of tolerance, but it is hard work to actually make that true,” Holla said in his speech, according to the Amsterdam broadcaster AT5. “That affects me and it affects us as Amsterdam police.” Some groups have a harder time than others, he said, and a day like this was a chance to show the force was there for them too.
Holla also set out what the police do for the community, including giving information sessions to refugees from countries where officers are, in his words, “a source of fear”. Officers from Roze in Blauw, the national police network for LGBTIQ+ people, join the Canal Parade as well as Asian Pride, the Trans Pride Walk, and the Trans Diner, he said.
He urged anyone facing intimidation or violence to go to the police. “Reporting is not easy, and many victims are afraid or just want to get on with their lives,” Holla said. “But we really need the information.”
Bellefleur said the speech showed what an unusual country the Netherlands is, because that kind of public backing from the police is rare in other nations.
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