The movement gathered pace after a 1981 manifestation against the nuclear arms race in Amsterdam attracted an unexpected 400,000 demonstrators. A motley coalition of anti-military and peace groups of different persuasions came together and collected over 3.75 million signatures (a quarter of the population) against the deployment on Dutch soil of US cruise missiles that were destined to carry nuclear warheads, in particular neutron bombs, but by the time the petition was presented, the Dutch centre-right government had already given in to the diplomatic pressure from NATO. The Hollanditis fever peaked in 1983 with a mass demonstration in The Hague aimed against the deployment. The demonstration drew a record 550,000 participants and was entirely non-violent, unlike other anti-nuclear prote