‘They hit me on the head, arms and legs’

“We’re just being hunted here.” Completely out of breath pro-Palestinian demonstrators run in the dark on a bike path on the outskirts of Amsterdam. Fleeed from police officers who told them in no uncertain terms that their presence was not wanted.

“Walk, salt up. Go, build,” can be heard on videos that the demonstrators share on social media. The images also show riot police hitting people lying on the ground with their batons and kicking them. The police is research on violence began. What do we know so far?

Last night, despite the emergency order and the ban on demonstrations, there were people gathered on Dam Square draw attention to the situation in the Gaza Strip. According to the police, they finally arrived 265 people were arrested and taken away by bus. The bus shouts slogans like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Long live the intifada”.

Kamil from Amsterdam is among the exhibitors. He tells NOS that the bus he was in, the second of three, was driven to Westerpark first. The city was exempted from prosecution for that place. “But we weren’t allowed to leave the bus. We heard that we had broken the law and then we went on. Officers said they didn’t know where we were taking them. I thought they’re going to check our identity.” That didn’t happen in the end.

Their destination turned out to be a lorry parking lot deep in the Western Docklands, almost 10 kilometers from the Westerpark. Then, according to several demonstrators, they were let off the bus without further instructions. The traveling officers walked away.

The peace was short-lived. While the demonstrators were trying to find out where they were dropped off and how to get home, police vans with riot police approached them. “We ran away. We were just scared,” said Kamil. He calls the police action “a brutal attack with heavy violence”.

Mohamed El Bastawisy was also at the banned show. He did something when an officer hit a woman after she was kicked off the bus. “I wanted to help her. Then they hit me on my head, arms and legs.”

Pictures of this are circulating on social media. “The world started spinning. They told me to run faster, but I couldn’t because of the pain and the dizziness.” El Bastawisy says the violence was “real” and says he will press charges against that officer.

Images of police violence confirmed by NOS:

Another demonstrator from Amsterdam was also scared and unsafe. She only wants to tell her story anonymously. She says that last night she was on the third bus and drove straight from Dam Square to the West Docklands. They were dropped off a few hundred meters from the second bus. Even without instructions.

“We walked on the bike path to the nearest bus stop. Out of nowhere a police van came on the bike path behind us. Officers came out of the van and started beating us. They hit hard and shouted at us to move on. We started running but we didn’t know where to go.” Another activist says on Instagram that she had tripped and been knocked to the ground by a riot police officer.

The police say in response that police violence “is always intense to see and to be tested and evaluated. Also in this case.”

A spokesperson confirms that the police can use force if the situation requires it: “Due to the emergency order, demonstrations have been banned in the last few days. Before riot police take action, people are asked to leave several times. He was also warned. that violence would otherwise be used.”

Police say there are “understandable questions” about police violence used against demonstrators after they were taken to the Western Docklands. The violence used is being investigated.

The police are investigating what happened last Sunday. Images show that a woman was hit on the head with a bat on the Nieuwendijk.

The studies can take a while: “That’s because we believe that careful research is more important than quick conclusions based on circulating images. Those don’t tell the whole story.”

The Public Prosecution Service, by which the demonstrators were moved, says this was done “to stop criminal behaviour”. In other words: to stop the violation of the emergency order. Demonstrators are often moved some distance away if a demonstration is banned, such as when Extinction Rebellion’s roads are blocked. Data about the demonstrators will not be recorded because, according to the Public Prosecution Service, there are no people for that.

A spokesperson says the Public Prosecution Service is also investigating the photographs themselves.