Method
Brandhaardjes collects events from open sources and gives every event an assessment: how reliable its sources are, how well the event is confirmed and how much disruption it brings or is expected to bring. This page explains exactly how.
Every grade follows from fixed rules, not from an opaque score. A language model (Claude) reads news reports and only takes out facts that are stated in them: what, where, when, and for instance whether there were arrests or the action was cancelled. The program then works out the letters and numbers itself. Sometimes the editor adds a news article the regular sources missed; Claude reads it the same way, and it counts as an ordinary source from the site it is on.
Event types
| Type | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Demonstration | A demonstration or protest gathering in one place, including a rally or flag action |
| March | A demonstration that moves along a route, including a silent march |
| Blockade | Obstruction of a road, entrance or infrastructure |
| Occupation or sit-in | Occupying a building or site, or a sit-in |
| Strike | An organised work stoppage with a visible action |
| Riots | Only confirmed serious public disorder with violence or vandalism. A demonstration with a few arrests stays a demonstration; the arrests count towards the disruption level |
| Commemoration or vigil | A commemoration, vigil or silent gathering |
| Prominent visit | A visit by a prominent foreign figure that may bring protest or security measures |
| Other | Fits no other type, such as a lecture or film screening from an action agenda |
Reliability and credibility: the Admiralty code
Brandhaardjes uses the Admiralty code (also called the NATO system), a common way to grade intelligence. The code is a letter for the reliability of the source and a number for the credibility of the information. B2 means: a usually reliable source, and the information is probably true.
Letter: source reliability
| Letter | Meaning |
|---|---|
| A | Completely reliable: official sources, such as the Gemeenteblad and the police |
| B | Usually reliable: newsrooms with a corrections policy |
| C | Fairly reliable: protest agendas where organisers post their own actions |
| D | Not usually reliable: sources of unclear origin |
| E | Unreliable |
| F | Cannot be judged: sites Brandhaardjes does not know (yet) |
Every source has a fixed letter. A news article gets the letter of the site it is on, also when it came in through Google Alerts or Brave Search: an NOS article counts as NOS. An event gets the letter of its best source. Known disinformation sites, such as the Pravda network, are not used at all: their articles never appear on the site.
| Sources | Source reliability | |
|---|---|---|
| Gemeenteblad (officielebekendmakingen.nl) official | A completely reliable | Emergency orders and security risk areas published by municipalities. |
| Politie, OM, Rijksoverheid official | A completely reliable | Only when an article comes in through a search or Google Alert. |
| NOS, NU.nl, RTL Nieuws, ANP news | B usually reliable | National newsrooms with a corrections policy. |
| AD, de Volkskrant, Trouw, NRC, Het Parool, De Telegraaf news | B usually reliable | National newspapers. |
| Regionale omroepen news | B usually reliable | AT5, NH Nieuws, Omroep West, Rijnmond, RTV Utrecht, Omroep Gelderland, Omroep Brabant, L1, Omroep Zeeland, RTV Oost, RTV Noord, RTV Drenthe, Omrop Fryslân, Omroep Flevoland. |
| DutchNews.nl, NL Times news | C fairly reliable | English-language rewrites of Dutch news, often based on other media. |
| watkanikdoen.nl agenda | C fairly reliable | Action agenda; organisers post their own actions. |
| The Rights Forum, agenda agenda | C fairly reliable | Agenda of an advocacy organisation, mostly about Israel and Palestine. |
| Activisme Agenda agenda | D not usually reliable | Many actions, mostly copied automatically from organisers' calendars; the operator is unknown. Strong focus on Palestine actions. D until the data proves reliable. |
| Andere sites (via Google Alerts of Brave Search) search result | F cannot be judged | A site not on this list cannot be judged. |
Number: credibility of the information
| Number | Meaning | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Confirmed | An official source and at least one other independent source, or three independent sources with one rated A or B |
| 2 | Probably true | Two independent sources, or one news or official source rated A or B |
| 3 | Possibly true | One source rated C, such as an announcement in a protest agenda |
| 4 | Doubtful | Only sources rated D or E, or a single source the language model was unsure about |
| 5 | Improbable | The sources contradict each other, for instance cancelled according to one and out of hand according to another |
| 6 | Cannot be judged | Only sources that cannot be judged |
Independent sources are counted per organisation: two articles on nos.nl are one source. A caveat: when five regional sites copy the same ANP report, Brandhaardjes still counts that as five sources. With a high grade, glance at the list of sources.
Disruption level
The disruption level (low, medium or high) says how much nuisance or unrest an event brings for public order. It never depends on the cause of a protest, the organisation behind it or its political direction. A demonstration is a fundamental right, not a threat.
The level starts from the event type:
| Type | Base level |
|---|---|
| Demonstration, commemoration, visit, other | Low |
| March, blockade, occupation, strike | Medium |
| Riots | High |
Signals a source states explicitly raise the level:
- To high: violence, vandalism, an emergency order or security risk area.
- To at least medium: arrests, riot police deployed, a road blockade, an eviction or clearance, a large turnout (more than about 1,000 people).
- Traffic disruption and a counter-protest are shown, but do not raise the level.
Next to the level it says expected or reported. Expected means only announcements are known. Reported means a news or official source reported on it after the start.
Location
Not every point on the map is equally precise. Every event says how its spot was found:
| Precision | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Exact spot | The source gave coordinates |
| Address or street | An address, street or square from the source, looked up with the PDOK Locatieserver |
| Town level | Only the town is known; the point is in the centre of the town |
| Municipality level | Only the municipality is known |
On the map, events at town or municipality level have a dashed ring. Events from before November 2026 have no precision yet.
Status
An event is announced, ongoing or over, depending on the time. When a source reports that an action is off or banned, it is cancelled: it stays visible, struck through. When another source contradicts that, the page says so and the credibility drops to 5.
Related events
Several reports about the same event are merged into one event with all its sources. Besides that, Brandhaardjes links different events that seem to belong together:
- Series: the same action at the same spot on other days, such as a weekly vigil. A series of three or more gets its own page and a reference such as
BH-S-2026-0007. - Campaign: around the same day in other municipalities, with the same campaign name or nearly the same title.
- Counter-protest: the same day in the same municipality, when a source reports a counter-protest.
- Escalation: riots in the same municipality within 24 hours after a demonstration or march.
- Earlier at this spot: earlier events at the same address in the 90 days before.
Related means the events look alike, not that the same people organise them.
References, archive and data
- Every event has a fixed reference, such as
BH-2026-000123, to cite. - For news sources Brandhaardjes asks the Internet Archive for a copy, so a source can still be checked when the article changes or disappears.
- All events are in
/data/events.json, following a published JSON schema, with times in Dutch time and in UTC. - Summaries are written automatically by a language model. For the facts, always read the source.
Limits
- Coverage is uneven. What is in the sources ends up on the map. One of the agendas focuses strongly on Palestine actions, and some regions have few regional news feeds. More dots somewhere does not necessarily mean more actions.
- Media attention is not incident frequency. A busy news day gives more reports, not more riots.
- Copied reports can make the count of independent sources too high.
- Automated reading sometimes goes wrong: a wrong place, date or type. The source is what counts.
Responsible use
- Demonstrating is a fundamental right. A listing on Brandhaardjes is not a threat and not a judgement of an action.
- Brandhaardjes is about events, not people. Names of private individuals, photos of participants and profiles of groups do not belong here and are not collected.
- Use the assessment as a tool to weigh sources, not as a final verdict. Read the sources.