The Dam sleepers: hippies on the monument and marines with their belts

In the late 1960s Dam Square turned into one big dormitory at night. Hundreds of young people from all over Europe rolled out their sleeping bags on the steps of the National Monument. Amsterdam hesitated for a long time over what to do, until a group of marines took matters into their own hands in the summer of 1970.

City centre Fact 126 of 126 3 min read Updated 30 Oct 2026 5 sources Lees in het Nederlands

The magic centre of Europe

In the late 1960s Amsterdam was seen as the magic centre of youth culture. Freedom, music, soft drugs that were easier to get here than elsewhere: young travellers from all over Europe headed for the city with a rucksack and a sleeping bag. They could not afford a hotel, so they slept wherever they could. The favourite spot was Dam Square, on and around the white National Monument unveiled in 1956 in memory of the victims of the Second World War.

By the summer of 1969 it was already a familiar sight. At six in the morning a whistle sounded, and anyone still lying there was hosed off the square by the fire brigade, sleeping bag and all.

Desecration or freedom?

To many Amsterdammers, sleeping, smoking joints and making love on the war memorial was a desecration. Shopkeepers complained, the police noted drug use and thefts in the area went up. According to Jan Vriend in his book about Amsterdam, mayor Ivo Samkalden had already had enough in the spring of 1969 and wanted the police to step in. Ed van Thijn, then leader of the Labour (PvdA) group on the city council, is said to have changed his mind. His argument: the monument was first and foremost a symbol of freedom, and Amsterdam should not destroy its image as the city of flower power by using force against young people who would not hurt a fly.

So the sleeping continued, and it kept getting busier. In late July and early August 1970, between 600 and 1,000 people slept on and around the Dam every night.

The sleeping ban

On 21 August 1970 the mayor and aldermen finally decided to ban sleeping on the Dam. The ban took effect at six in the evening on Monday 24 August. It ended in riots that lasted until two in the morning. A police officer fired shots, injuring three people, including a photojournalist from the daily De Tijd.

The marines with their belts

The next evening, Tuesday 25 August 1970, a group of some eighty to a hundred marines and sailors from Den Helder and Doorn took matters into their own hands. Off duty and without orders from anyone, they marched to the Dam and cleared the square in about ten minutes. Their weapon: their belts. Two more nights of rioting followed.

They came off duty, without orders, carrying nothing but their belts.
On the marines at the Dam, 25 August 1970

It was hardly a tidy affair. Their own commanders strongly condemned it, five marines had to answer to the naval court martial and one was fined a hundred guilders. Prime Minister Piet de Jong, on the other hand, said he had some sympathy for their action.

On to the Vondelpark

The young people did not disappear, of course. In the spring of 1971 the city tried a different approach and launched the Vondelpark project: the Vondelpark became an official sleeping park, with a luggage depot, a first aid post, washing facilities and even a 'freak-out room' for anyone having a bad trip. At its peak 1,500 to 2,000 young people slept there. The Dam belonged to everyone again, and the monument was once more a place of remembrance.

More about the Dam? Read about the incidents during Remembrance Day or about the coronation riots of 1980.