A Police State in the Netherlands?

The following translated news article came in while I was away in Warsaw last week. It concerns a close encounter between a Dutch video journalist and police in the Hague. The young man in question believes he was roughed up by police in retaliation for taking videos of their actions and posting them on YouTube. Readers are invited to follow the links to the posted videos and draw their own conclusions.

Many thanks to El Rubio for translating this piece from ThePostOnLine:

“The police also roughed me up”

How free are the citizens of the Netherlands to demonstrate, and especially, when they use a camera to report it? This question begs an answer after seeing a video clip that appeared on Geenstijl.nl on Tuesday morning. (The images were sent out by Pownews for the first time on Monday night.)

It shows a young man being stopped by a number of policemen at a demonstration of the Dutch political party the PVV (Geert Wilders) in the Hague. It seemed he just wanted to take some video shots.

Demand

The young man ask several times why he is being stopped but gets no other answer than “we demand that you leave.”

Eventually, the young man is grabbed by several policemen, his arm is twisted painfully behind his back (according to his screaming) and he gets pushed into a police minibus.

So much for the video images. See for yourself.

Are we talking here about a “police state”? Were the police busy preventing a citizen journalist from having the right to access a public road? And was the recommended level of physical force breached?

The story according to the police:

According to Jelleke van Rantwijk, a spokesperson for the police in the Hague, this is not just about somebody who wanted to video. “This person was a demonstrator (WTF, a demonstrator!), not a journalist, and what you cannot see is that he is carrying a megaphone (WTF, a megaphone, not even an AK-47!) We got explicit instructions to keep the demonstrators and counter-demonstrators separated. This is done to prevent rowdy behavior. We had warned him quite some time ago that he was not welcome.”

Van Rantwijk further believes that “the arrest was executed beautifully” and that “no unnecessary force” was used!

The story according to the arrested person:

The name of the arrested young man is Roman van Ree and he also wanted to tell his side of the story to ThePostOnLine.

Van Ree: “I consider myself to be an activist, but was at the demonstration as a journalist. The police have tried to censor me on purpose. I had filmed the police who arrested me the previous day (see the YouTube videos) On those videos it is quite clear that they were pretty rough and they did not like it that it was posted on YouTube.”

“They warned me at that time and wanted to see my identity card. This I did not give to them.”

“The story about the megaphone would normally be true, because I always carry it with me for safety reasons. If I am stopped by a demonstration or find myself in a dangerous situation I can always try to create a diversion/counter-demonstration. But by chance, I did not have the megaphone with me when I got arrested.”

Mistreatment:

Van Ree also tells of mistreatment in the minibus (see pictures). “A policeman lifted me up by my throat and hit me so hard on my arm I got some bad bruises.”

Van Ree is not quite sure whether he is going to lodge a complaint against the police or at least a complaint against those policemen. “I want to look at all my options before I take action.”

Van Ree is connected with the Amsterdam organization called We Are Change Amsterdam.

7 thoughts on “A Police State in the Netherlands?

  1. Not so much different from the videos showing american police beating people to pulp…….at the end of the day,i guess it’s just two sides of the same phenomenon.

  2. To be sung to the tune of _Het Wilhelmus_ (it was composed back when Geert Wilders was in trouble):

    The triers of Geert Wilders–
    Are they of true Dutch blood?
    Their fatherland’s in peril,
    So the moo and chew their cud.
    The Prince of Orange goes rolling
    In his crypt beneath the ground.
    His feckless heris go crawling,
    Lest they be “bigots” found.

    It’s fine to blaspheme Jesus,
    And at Christians rudely cough.
    But dare to mock Muhammad–
    Just ask Theo van Gogh!
    Bouyeri’s life is precious
    To human rights groups all,
    But those who think him vicious,
    Can see their good names fall!

  3. [Note from Baron Bodissey to this commenter: mind your manners. This is the last time I will take the trouble to edit out the bad language etc.]

    Got evidence that the [cursed] country called the Netherlands is a [wretched] police state, the evidence is overwhelming, the evidence is so overwhelming that since those incidences occurred I dont sleep. Do I care posting this? [emphatically not.] The doubledutch authorities don’t even follow their own decisicions! Of which I have ample evidence as well. Please provide an anonymous link to post my info, it will be appreciated very much!

  4. Pingback: How Debt Destroys Democracy - BigNewsWonk.com

  5. I doubt if he was a real journalist. If he was he should file a complaint via the NVJ (Dutch union for journalists).

    Not one single significant channel or newspaper reported on this … it’s just GeenStijl/PowNews. As usual to be taken with a grain of salt …

    BUT I have to say: I don’t agree with what happened. I think he should’ve been given the chance … but this happening doesn’t turn The Netherlands into a police state. That’s a ridiculous conclusion!

    • @SBS67

      “Not one single significant channel or newspaper reported on this …”
      You mean not one Prostitute Media Channel reported it mainstream. Either you are [redacted- unknowing] or [redacted-removed] living in a bubble in The Netherlands.
      [redacted] watch the Voice of Holland, Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden or some other [mainstream] channel.
      —————————————————
      [NOTE: This comment was almost too much to redact. If your lack of civility is due to not being acquainted with the forms of civil discourse, we can give you some links for instruction. On the other hand, if your incivility is a deliberate choice then you might consider other fora at which your comment would be acceptable as is.

      I don’t feel well and don’t want to work this hard. – Dymphna]

  6. It gets worse. Even camera security used by banks etc CANNOT be used to identify criminals in the Netherlands. What the point of them few know, the reason given ” they might show the race of the person” Might ? No, I did mot believe it at first either after researching!
    Happen to have friends who were robbed here in NL and their bank card used. The bank was not allowed to use the camera tape without them filing a police report. In turn, the police could not ask for them !
    One tv programme was fined for showing someone stealing a computer somewhere. Unlike the UK where camera’s are always used to identify criminals, and rightly so.

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