281 arrested at banned protest on Amsterdam Dam Square; Footage of police brutality
The police arrested 281 people at a banned Palestine-support protest on Dam Square in Amsterdam on Wednesday evening. Videos are circulating on social media showing riot police officers shouting at released protesters and beating them with batons. The police are investigating the footage.
“Videos are circulating on social media showing members of the riot police taking action against protests who have just been thrown out of a bus in the Westelijke Havengebied,” the police said in a statement. “The exact reason for the riot police’s actions in this specific video clip is being investigated.”
An emergency decree in effect in the city since riots after an Ajax vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv match last week Thursday banned demonstrations on Dam Square. The city offered the protesters an alternative location in Westerpark, but they started gathering in the heart of the city at around 6:00 p.m.
The police intervened and put an end to the protest, arresting 281 people. The vast majority, 265 people, were arrested for ignoring police instructions to leave. They were transported by bus to the Westelijke Havengebied. It was when they were put off there that someone recorded riot police officers beating protesters with batons.
Eight people were arrested for having objects in their possession that could cause injury or disrupt public order. Four were arrested for insult, one for public violence, one for vandalism, one for rowdiness, and one for deliberately not complying with a police order.
