Amnesty International in the Netherlands wants a ban on the use of facial recognition software during demonstrations, saying the method to identify protesters is a violation of human rights.

The organisation also wants clear rules around the use of police cameras around peaceful demonstrations.

It is often not clear beforehand which digital means police will use to monitor protesters, Amnesty said, or what happens to the images. “That can result in abuse and picking out people willy-nilly,” Amnesty director Dagman Oudshoorn said.

In January, border police used face recognition software to scan photos taken at a demonstration against the use of private jets at Schiphol as well as images taken from social media, followed up by additional checks in an effort to identify the protestors.

It later emerged at least seven people had been sent a letter warning them they faced prosecution, even though they could prove they were elsewhere at the time.

Kirsten Verdel, who was at a wedding at the time of the protest told Dutch News she had never been to a climate demonstration.

“I still don’t know who identified me or how they did it,” she said. “I still don’t know what data banks are holding information about me,” she said at the time.

Amnesty observed police surveillance at various demonstrations between 2022 and 2024, where bodycams, drones and surveillance vehicles kitted out with big cameras where used.

Police said in a reaction that they want to talk to Amnesty about the issue and that no cameras are used in the majority of demonstrations and then only when “the complexity of the demonstration and the risk of incidents warrants it”.

He said facial recognition was used but not in real-time. “When offences have been committed we will look if the person is known to the police. We can use the images of people who have been convicted before and arrested individuals for offences which carry a minimum penalty of up to four years,” he said.

In July Amnesty published a report in which it expressed concern at the increasing state intervention into the right to demonstrate in European countries.

Dutch justice minister David van Weel (VVD)  also backs a limit to the right to demonstrate, saying he wants “a sharper distinction between (peaceful) demonstrations and disruptive action. (…)” and that officials “will be urged to act decisively where demonstrators cross the boundaries of criminal law.”