Dutch authorities were taken aback today at unexpected opposition to the Senate's passing of a law legalising euthanasia.
The size of the protests that united 8,000 demonstrators took authorities and the media by surprise. When the lower house adopted the new law legalising mercy killings last November, which the Senate rubber-stamped yesterday, there were no demonstrations.
"Protests against euthanasia law in vain," read the headline of the right-wing Algemeen Dagbladpaper.
"About 10,000 protestors tried one last time to convince the Senate to reject the euthanasia legislation, in vain," the centre-left De Volkskrantdaily said under a front-page picture of the demo.
The Dutch senators passed the new law yesterday by a 46 to 28 majority making The Netherlands the first country in the world to authorise mercy killing - albeit under specific conditions.
AFP