A Rotterdam ceremony honouring the city’s deported Jewish residents was briefly halted yesterday when protesters shouted slogans during a speech by Israel’s ambassador. This year’s edition drew in hundreds of people, around twice the usual turnout, with the disruption breaking out just as the Israeli ambassador began to speak. Ten protestors were cleared offThe moment Israeli ambassador Zvi Aviner Vapni began his speech, a group of about ten people turned their backs on him and began chanting. The ambassador’s presence is the issue, protesters assert“Our goal is not to disrupt the commemoration,” Ineke Palm of the Rotterdam Palestine Coalition tells AD. As Theo Kemperman, who chairs the Loods 24 foundation, tells AD, “this is a gathering with relatives, even with survivors.”