MP arrested during postal workers' protest - Holland

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Socialist Party (SP) MP Sharon Gesthuizen was detained by police yesterday for more than five hours following her arrest at a demonstration in The Hague in support of Dutch postal workers.

Death of a mail carrier
The city council had given permission for the protest at a square in the city. Gesthuizen carried a coffin with a ‘dead’ postal worker in it as "a symbolic action against postal company Post NL." Police said the protestors did not have permission to march with the coffin and arrested the MP.

Police had also specifically requested that the MP not carry the coffin while the memorial service for the children killed in last week's Swiss bus crash was going on as it would be "in poor taste."

"Two of us were walking on the street and the police wanted to make a point that the location was outside the agreed demonstration area. So that's considered an illegal demonstration now in the Netherlands," said Gesthuizen.

SP leader Emile Roemer and other party colleagues went to the police station in The Hague to await Gesthuizen’s release. The MP refused to pay a 210-euro fine and police continued her detention. Dutch authorities have the power to detain a person for a maximum of six hours.

Chequered postal history

Since the Dutch state postal service PTT bought Australian express firm TNT in 1996 - merging it with its postal arm - the company has been struggling to survive. It has been relaunched several times under different restructuring plans with heavy job losses, particularly for mail carriers.

Last year, TNT was split into two companies - a postal arm which launched itself as PostNL and an international express division. The split led to massive job losses.

Earlier this week, United Parcel Service Inc announced plans to buy Dutch TNT Express for 5.2 billion euros to boost its position as the world's largest package delivery company outside the United States.

UPS will become market leader in Europe and also gain access to TNT's stronger networks in the fast-growing Asian and Latin American markets

Apology for postal delays

On Thursday Post NL issued an apology for delays in their postal services due to the implementation of a new logistics process. It will take several days get services back to normal, a spokesperson said.