The arrest of journalist Jacqueline de Bruijn at a pro-Palestinian protest in Amsterdam at the end of 2024 was unlawful. The court ruled this last week. The judgment has been viewed by NRC. At the time, De Bruijn said NRC that despite her press card she was arrested and held in jail for nine hours.
Demonstrations around Dam Square were banned that week, in the wake of the riots surrounding the Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv football match in early November 2024. However, demonstrators were present on several days. The journalist reported on this on Sunday, November 10, and was filming when she was arrested. In return for NRC the police said that De Bruijn was arrested because she herself took part in the demonstration. But there was “no reasonable suspicion” for this, the court now rules.
I think it is serious that you have to prove that what the police say is not true. That’s the upside down world
According to the police, she only showed her press card at the station. The court does not agree with that reading either. The verdict describes a recording in which she can be heard and seen being grabbed and taken away while she says she can show her press card. “No, too late,” says an officer. In another video that was circulating on social media at the time, De Bruijn repeatedly states that she is a journalist and has a press card.
De Bruijn says he is happy with the ruling, but also “shocked” that the reports of the assistant public prosecutor and the officers in question were incorrect. “I think it is serious that you have to prove that what the police say is not true. That is the world upside down.”
The police must rectify previous reporting by the court. De Bruijn was legally assisted by the journalists’ union NVJ.
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