No vigilante justice: Police after far-right group blames A'dam assault on asylum shelter
The Amsterdam police urged people not to take the law into their own hands after a far-right group posted footage of a violent assault at Bijlmer ArenA station online and suggested that the perpetrators came from a nearby asylum shelter.
“We understand that the images are disturbing and evoke emotions,” a police spokesperson told the Telegraaf. “But we urge people not to seek out suspects themselves and not to spread information via social media.” Vigilante justice is “undesirable and in some cases punishable,” the police said.
The incident happened around 6:45 p.m. on Friday. Two men attacked another man at Bijlmer ArenA station, kicking him repeatedly in the head after he fell to the ground and breaking a bottle near his head. After the assault, the two men fled, leaving the victim injured and unconscious in the station hall.
On Monday, the far-right group Defend Netherlands posted a photo of a man whom they say is the perpetrator on Instagram. The group also posted a video of the attack, suggesting that the perpetrators may have come from a nearby asylum shelter. The post includes a map showing the proximity of the shelter to the station, and the caption: “Exactly. The COA location where Lisa’s murderer was also staying and was arrested.”
According to the Telegraaf, a similar call from Defend Netherlands led to a retaliatory attack in Raamdonskveer last month. Young people on fatbikes attacked a woman. A few days later, one of the alleged perpetrators got beaten up. The group used Instagram to inquire about the man and shared personal information and images of him in their Telegram group. After the assault on the man, Defend Netherlands praised the perpetrators as “true fighters.”
Ico Maly, a cultural scholar at Tilburg University, called this a worrying development. “Far-right groups have long been spreading hostile images and stories about migrants, which can contribute to violence. But the fact that these specific videos actually lead to violence is new in the Netherlands.”
According to him, this has to do with the broader internet culture. “You also see these kinds of practices among so-called ‘pedo hunters,’ people who expose alleged child abusers online and sometimes even seek them out in person.” But in the context of migration, this is new and disturbing, he told the newspaper.
