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Hundreds of people protested Sunday against NATO and military spending and against a possible conflict with Iran, two days before a summit of the alliance in The Hague that is seeking to increase allies’ defense budgets.
“Let’s invest in peace and sustainable energy,” Belgian politician Jos d’Haese told the crowd at a park not far from the summit venue.
Although billed as a demonstration against NATO and the war in Gaza, protesters were joined by Iranians who held up banners saying “No Iran War,” the day after the United States launched attacks against three of Iran’s nuclear sites.
“We are opposed to war. People want to live a peaceful life,” said 74-year-old Hossein Hamadani, an Iranian who lives in the Netherlands. Look at the environment. “Things are not good. So why do we spend money on war?” he added.
The Netherlands is hosting the annual meeting of the 32-nation alliance starting Tuesday, with leaders scheduled to meet Wednesday.
The heads of government want to hammer out an agreement on a hike in defense spending demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump. The deal appeared largely done last week, until Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that committing Madrid to spending 5% of its gross domestic product on defense “would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive.”
U.S. allies have ramped up defense spending since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, but almost a third of them still don’t meet NATO’s current target of at least 2% of their gross domestic product.
The summit is being protected by the biggest ever Dutch security operation, code named “Orange Shield,” involving thousands of police and military personnel, drones, no-fly zones and cybersecurity experts.
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Associated Press writer Molly Quell in The Hague contributed.