I’ve spent the week in Den Hague at The National Theatre on stage each night. But on the way to the National Theatre, to the Friday masterclass, I’m inspired by hundreds of university students and teachers with placards marching through the city to parliament. So I invited my students to join them.

We didn’t have to walk far, only hundred yards from the theatre by the canal the police lined across the bridge blocking the chanting crowds on the other side. We thought we were watching the march from behind the police line until the police turned. We were now at the front of the frontline. Our way back was blocked by a dark line of riot police that appeared from nowhere and cut us off from the theatre.

We were stuck. The riot police on the bridge marched forward. along our side of the canal. One of the teachers was hit with a riot shield. The others were marched on their side of the canal. We rushed forward through the crowd – where did they come from – and scuttled into a car park off the street as the protesters and riot police passed. An helicopter hovered above us and then tilted onwards to the shifting crowds. The canal now silent as a Sunday slipped past and we slipped away.