In Beveren, a schoolgirl was rushed to the emergency room after a fight between teenage girls that was filmed by a large number of other young people. “The police should also go after the videographers and supporters,” writes deputy editor-in-chief Dimitri Antonissen. “They are also perpetrators.”
They are already doing it in the Netherlands. There, the judiciary has been actively campaigning for several years to bring people who film fights with their mobile phones to court. That has already led to several convictions. The filming – in combination with no distance and encouragement – is considered by the court as ‘overt violence’. You can also see that in the video from Beveren. On HLN.be we made the images unrecognizable to protect the victims, but in the original video you can clearly see how at least a handful of young people with their phones at the ready are yelling enthusiastically.
Of course you can understand those who would be afraid to intervene. But these filmmakers do the opposite: their behavior is one of the reasons why what starts as a banal altercation turns into a brutal brawl that ends in hospital for one girl. Without the oil they pour onto the fire, there’s still a chance the quarrel will cool down. But these young people are just poking fun at things, only to zoom in on the suffering they have caused. This is not optional and should not go unpunished.
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“We take seriously the fact that the other students prefer to use their smartphones to film than to intervene,” the board said. But inquiry from our editors shows that that ‘heavy lifting’ ultimately remained with a bulb washing in front of the class
It is a good thing that the school board at least already mentions the behavior of the videographers. “We take seriously the fact that the other students prefer to reach for their smartphones to film than to intervene,” it sounds in a response. But inquiries from our editors show that that “heavy lifting” has ultimately remained with a wash in front of the class. Hopefully it will not miss its effect, but it would be better if the judiciary also gives a signal and takes active action against the film makers and the strongest ‘supporters’.
This already happens every now and then in the case of traffic accidents. In Groot-Bijgaarden, for example, a report was drawn up this summer for about 40 drivers who filmed an accident with their mobile phone. There is no reason not to do that in fights – where the involvement of the filmmakers is even greater. Of course, an appropriate punishment should be sought for underage offenders, but it is equally possible that some of the young people have just turned out to be of age. And also purely as a deterrent effect, it would be good if – just like in the Netherlands – the police would record the names of all videographers in these kinds of incidents and interrogate them afterwards. The first reflex to violence should be to stop it. Not to film it.
OUR OPINION. Conscription to teach young people values, discipline and patriotism? Then don’t say you don’t want to patronize (+)
OUR OPINION. “A smoke-free Efteling is there for the image of the amusement park, not for the health of the children” (+)
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