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January 7, 2022 - 7:00am
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Earlier this week a UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Professor Nils Melzer, condemned video footage showing Dutch police brutality at an anti-lockdown protest. The footage in question — which Melzer described as “savagery” — dates back to March last year in the Hague, and shows a man on the ground covering his head as two police officers in riot gear beat him with batons.
Melzer, who is making official UN visits to the Netherlands, Poland and France this year to assess police violence, appears to have believed the video showed recent anti-lockdown protests in Amsterdam on January 2. After he called for the officers’ prosecution, the Dutch police quickly responded, clarifying that the Public Prosecution Service was already doing so (it having happened in March) while adding that the officers were acting “under extremely difficult circumstances”.
URGENT @DutchMFA:
➡️This is one of the most disgusting scenes of #PoliceBrutality I have seen since #GeorgeFloyd!
➡️These officers & their superiors must be prosecuted for the crime of #torture!
➡️THIS SAVAGERY MUST STOP HERE & NOW!
➡️I will send an official protest note shortly! https://t.co/GdGwRlDNup— Nils Melzer (@NilsMelzer) January 3, 2022
Strangely enough, it is Melzer, not the police, who has been criticised. Hillel Neuer, a Canadian lawyer and human rights activist, claimed he was “sharing misleading information from racist groups” and “threatening to undermine trust in the United Nations”. Dutch police unions have also filed an official complaint to the UN over the tweet, describing it as “prejudiced”, and NGO “UN Watch” called on Melzer to resign over the comments.
But while Melzer’s original tweet may have contained an error, far more worrying is the prevalence of such incidents in the first place. Just this weekend, new footage of anti-lockdown protests in Amsterdam on Sunday has emerged, showing protestors being bitten by police dogs and hit with batons — a striking similarity to last year’s violence at the Hague. In a particularly shocking scene, a middle-aged man is beaten over the head with a baton and falls to the ground.
The January 2 protests came in response to the Dutch government’s strict Covid measures over the Christmas period. After the emergence of Omicron, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced a lockdown last month, closing all “non-essential” shops, bars, gyms and other public venues just a week before Christmas, measures set to stay in place until at least 14 January. Indoor visitors were limited to two (relaxed to four between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day). Outdoors, a 1.5m social distancing requirement — enforced by potential €95 fines, together with a “ban on events”, which meant an effective ban on protests. Subsequently, Amsterdam’s Mayor, Femke Halsema, declared the anti-lockdown march illegal.
Known for their easy-going lifestyle, residents of the liberal capital of Europe do not take kindly to the government’s continuing harsh restrictions, especially with Dutch Covid indicators some of the best on the continent. According to government statistics, the Netherlands has 86% vaccine coverage and falling ICU admissions, currently averaging 25 per day — or 1 in 680,000 of its 17 million population. Deaths have also been falling, roughly halving from 50 to 25 per day in the last 5 weeks.
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SubscribeLiving in amsterdam I have been in chocked awe the last two years of how the ‘freedom loving Dutch’ has let their freedoms be restricted to the degree they have, without much pushback at all really. A 21:00 curfew?! Several hard lockdowns including now these last few weeks?! Surprised to say the least..
Aren’t we all? The surprise is certainly not limited to the Netherlands.
Not really a surprise at all, when you think about it. It’s all contained in that old saw of the American right — hard times make strong men, strong men make good times, good times make weak men and weak men make hard times. We’re presently in the second half of the cycle.
Well, they are showing their hand, below is Dr Malone, the creator of mmR vaccines telling you to Not vaccinate children. Below is his statement:
“I stand by this statement with a career dedicated to vaccine research and development. I’m vaccinated for COVID and I’m generally pro-vaccination. I have devoted my entire career to developing safe and effective ways to prevent and treat infectious diseases.
Before you inject your child – a decision that is irreversible – I wanted to let you know the scientific facts about this genetic vaccine, which is based on the mRNA vaccine technology I created:
There are three issues parents need to understand:
● The first is that a viral gene will be injected into your children’s cells. This gene forces your child’s body to make toxic spike proteins. These proteins often cause permanent damage in children’s critical organs, including
○ Their brain and nervous system
○ Their heart and blood vessels, including blood clots
○ Their reproductive system
○ And this vaccine can trigger fundamental changes to their immune system
● The most alarming point about this is that once these damages have occurred, they are irreparable”
He says the reason they say to give the vaccine to children is a LIE. Watch him in this 4 minute video – https://www.informedchoiceaustralia.com/post/dr-robert-malone-on-vaccinating-children
Every day the word is getting out more, and the authorities are getting more oppressive.
Shut down for expressing an opinion on a, for him, professional matter. Even the JCVI recommended against vaccinating under 18s, yet HMG did it anyway. Is the JCVI now officially anti-vaxx?
Governments generally are over reacting largely, I suspect, because they feel they should be doing something. Lockdowns are the easy option although ironically they almost certainly cause more damage than COVID itself. In the UK the major problem is the number of people off work due to self isolation. The vast majority of these people are not very ill if at all. Many have no symptoms. There needs to be a serious re think around how we react to and deal with some thing that like the common cold and flu is likely to stay with us.
I gave myself a lateral flow test on Wednesday morning before visiting my elderly father, besides which, apart from getting fully jabbed, I have been completely ignoring Covid for several months. I go maskless everywhere, and nobody says a thing.
Masks – or at least the cloth and surgical ones in wide circulation – are almost certainly useless so that seems a very reasonable approach. On a slightly optimistic note, I think the public mood is shifting on this virus and against draconian (and largely ineffective, but that’s another story) measures such as lockdowns.
What was it Reagan said of the proper response for a government? Something like “Don’t do something, just stand there.” Getting it all completely wrong is nothing new for them.
“Trust in the United Nations”… really?
About as likely as ‘trust in the EU/EC’
Good one.
These police thugs hit on the defenceless: old people, women and children. Send them into a Dutch muslim neighborhood and they would refuse unless accompanied by the army….cowards. They only use excessive and disproportionate force and no other. They can do so because they are totally anonymous (being masked and wearing no identity badges). On top of this a large proportion of the pseudo-officers used in crowd control are imported from other EU countries where violence against civilians is normal. These guys return home the same day and are totally untraceable. Even the police dogs were imported and were insufficiently trained to restrain their bite or to follow orders. These are utterly disgusting Nazi practices for which the authorities in charge of the police should be made legally accountable through courts of law.
Well now. Just the sort of guys we need to keep our motorways clear.