Renowned journalist Frits Barend involved in incident with pro-Palestine demonstrator

The organization of the documentary and film festival IDFA is investigating an incident that took place on the opening night of the festival. Journalist and TV presenter Frits Barend confirmed to ANP that he was involved in the incident, which occurred on Thursday night at the Theater Carré in Amsterdam.

Footage on social media showed a demonstrator throwing pamphlets in the air in the Carré and shouting his support for Palestine. The man was booed, but in the video, a moderator is seen saying that what the man is doing is "okay" and that he can express his opinion.

Barend, whose family is Jewish, was sat next to the demonstrator. The demonstrator shouted in the video that he was being attacked by Barend something that the journalist denies. “That is not correct, that is rude. I went to the film, and I was sat next to him. He wanted to walk away and almost had to climb over me. He struggled to do that. He made a huge drama of this.”

He did admit that he shouted something after the demonstrator had given his speech. "Then I started shouting: Free the hostages, if you do this in Gaza, you will be killed." This is also reflected in the images that have appeared online. Barend also said that he called IDFA management after the incident.

IDFA received a complaint about an incident on the opening night. “We are taking this case very seriously and are currently involved in an investigation,” said a spokesperson.

It is not yet clear how long IDFA's investigation will take. The police in Amsterdam are not aware of the incident.