AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Half a million people crushed into Amsterdam Saturday to protest nuclear weapons and the Reagan Administration's arms policies in the largest demonstration in Holland since its liberation from the Nazis in 1945.
Arriving in waves of trains, buses and cars, the demonstrators literally filled the city of Amsterdam to overflowing, jamming the streets so tightly a planned peace march through the center of town could not be staged.
Traffic jams extended from the center to beyond the outskirts of the city. Shops quickly closed.
Police estimated the demonstrators at about 500,000 in the city of 733,000 population. Among the protesters were about 300 uniformed Dutch army soldiers demonstrating in defiance of orders not to.
'I'll take the chance,' said a junior officer who requested anonymity. 'I think it is important that people see that even soldiers oppose the nuclear arms race.'
When the planned peace march became impossible, the demonstrators - whose numbers more than tripled the turnout organizers had predicted - milled about, chanting anti-war and anti-Reagan slogans for most of the day. Finally, large groups began heeding police appeals to disperse in the late afternoon.
Cartoon posters depicted President Reagan smoking missile-shaped cigars. 'No Reagan. Not now, not ever,' read one placard. 'There's no emergency exit on earth,' said another. 'Take the toys from the boys,' said one more.
Despite a crush of people for which police were unprepared, the demonstration was orderly and no violence was reported.
'It is absolutely incredible,' said a flabergasted police officer. 'We have had just one minor incident.'
The incident occurred when a bottle of gas accidentally exploded in a hamburger stand, slightly injuring two people. The crowd around the stand panicked briefly, fearing the explosion to be a bomb. Order was quickly restored, police said.
Skies were sunny, spirits high and the mass of people, banners, placards and balloons was easily the largest demonstration in Holland since the end of World War II. It also surpassed in size a number of recent anti-nuclear demonstrations held in London, Rome, Bonn and other West European capitals.
The march was called by a coalition of civic, student and church groups to protest NATO plans to deploy 572 nuclear missiles in Western Europe starting in 1983.
Last Wednesday, in a speech aimed primarily at the European protesters, President Reagan offered to scrap plans to deploy the missiles if the Soviet Union agreed to dismantle its SS-20 nuclear missiles.
The huge turnout in Amsterdam suggested that Reagan's speech had little immediate impact on the anti-war sentiment.
'We had hoped for 150,000 demonstrators. People tell me the actual figure is around 500,000,' said Mient Jan Faber, secretary general of the Inter-Church Peace Council. 'This will make the point that we dont want NATO's nuclear missiles in Europe,' he said.
Long after the march was due to have started, the sprawling Museum Square where the demonstrators had begun gathering was absorbing new arrivals. First the square, which is nearby the U.S. Consulate, and then the streets around it filled with people with no room to move.
Buses and trolly cars were abanoned out the outskirts of the city, unable to proceed farther. Columns setting off from Museum Square bumped into crowds walking down from the central train station, where 22 special trains disgorged about 125,000 people into the city, police said.
Street theatre groups, dance ensembles, choirs and the ringing of all the city's churchbells added the final touches the protest festival.
