11 August 1872

Mayor of Amsterdam Threatened

The Mayor of Amsterdam pretended to be out when a demonstration halted at the door of his official residence on 11 August 1872. The demonstration was organized by the chairman of the First International Klaas Ris (1821-1902), who regularly threatened that he would "seize and throw them [the mayor and his aldermen] through the windows". Ris, pictured here in his function as Amsterdam fire-fighter, concluded that the mayor was not in and explained: "I have been informed that the mayor's workweek is very minimal. When I am already at work, the mayor just arrives at the town hall, and I am still working long after the mayor has returned home."
(Text from Dennis Bos in BMGN 2000, p. 509-531)

See also:

•  Klaas Ris biography (in Dutch)

Today in the Biographies Dutch Labour Movement