From the Liveblog of
Thursday, November 14, 2024
Dutch police probed for ‘brutality’ against anti-Israel protesters who defied ban; 281 arrests
Dutch police say that they have opened an inquiry into alleged police brutality during and after a banned pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protest in Amsterdam in which 281 demonstrators were detained.
Social media footage showed riot police shouting at protesters and hitting them with batons after they were released from a bus on the outskirts of the Dutch capital following last night’s protest.
Several hundred demonstrators, dressed in Palestinian scarfs and chanting slogans, gathered on the city’s famous Dam Square despite a ban following last week’s attacks on Israeli football fans.
The city did grant an exemption for a protest on Wednesday, but on the condition that it take place at the city’s Westergast terrain, outside of the center.
“Videos are circulating on social media showing members of the Mobile Unit (riot police) acting against protesters who have just been removed from a bus,” police say in a statement.
The police in #Amsterdam brutally beat up pro-#Palestinian Protesters and threw them to the ground after taking them to a remote location in the dark. #Netherland #Israel #France #Paris
⚽⚽⚽ pic.twitter.com/kR4U7NVAPc— Mahalaxmi Ramanathan (@MahalaxmiRaman) November 14, 2024
“These protesters were transported to this location after they were previously arrested on Dam Square for violating the emergency ordinance,” police say.
“The exact reason for the Mobile Unit’s action in this specific video fragment is being investigated,” police say, without specifying which footage they were referring to.
AFP reporters at the protest saw police dragging demonstrators to waiting buses, with some putting up heavy resistance.
The demonstration came almost a week after the attacks on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans after a football match with local club Ajax, when Israeli fans were chased and beaten up by men on scooters.
Ten Israelis were injured with five of them briefly hospitalized in what Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof called an incident of “unadulterated antisemitism,” after the attacks were sparked by calls on social media to single out Jews.
