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Police strike causes cancellation part of start of Dutch league

Xinhua, August 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

Due to an announced strike by Dutch police five matches of the start of the Dutch Eredivisie season 2015/2016 in the forthcoming weekend have been cancelled and moved to next week, the Dutch football association KNVB stated on Thursday.

The mayors of five cities prohibited the matches in their towns due to the police actions, because they could not guarantee security. The KNVB decided to move the respective games after consultation with the mayors and clubs.

The football association took the decision after Minister of Security and Justice Ard van der Steur had sent a letter to the police unions on Thursday, in which he indicated that the wage agreement between the government and the unions in July was not negotiable. The police unions don't agree with this deal. They want an increase of salaries.

The matches ADO Den Haag - PSV in The Hague, sc Heerenveen - De Graafschap in Heerenveen, FC Groningen - FC Twente in Groningen, PEC Zwolle - SC Cambuur in Zwolle and NEC - Excelsior in Nijmegen therefore will be moved to Tuesday, August 11 and Wednesday August 12.

Earlier this week the police unions announced that police officers would stop their work one hour before the matches until one hour after the matches.

An exception is the game Feyenoord - FC Utrecht on Saturday in Rotterdam. The police did not plan to strike there, because it had already protested during the cycling race Tour de France in Rotterdam on Sunday July 5. Roda JC - Heracles Almelo in Kerkrade, AZ - Ajax in Alkmaar and Willem II - Vitesse in Tilburg will also go on, thanks to security measures by the respective clubs. Endit