Arnold Karskens, chairman of broadcasting association Ongehoord Nederland, was taken this afternoon by the police to Museumplein. According to a police spokesman, this is an “unfortunate combination of circumstances”.
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Karskens reported on the demonstration against the corona measures, something he has done before. He filmed with his cellphone and interviewed protesters, even after most of the protesters had left. On images which he made himself can be heard that a riot officer says he must come with the platoon commander.
Perskaart
The reporter had an official police press card from journalists’ union NVJ with him. Journalists are allowed with such a press card do their job in areas cordoned off by the police to report on, for example, accidents, demonstrations, riots and calamities.
“Despite the fact that I have an official police press card, I have to go on the bus,” he said. “This is very similar to Eastern European situations. And in countries where I have worked before. The freedom of the press in the Netherlands is on the wane.”
Sit down
A spokesman for the police says that Karskens, as it now appears, had ended up in the group of protesters who sit down did when the police intervened. That group was arrested after several warnings. Because he was absorbed in the crowd, it would not have been clear that Karskens was a journalist.
“People have been asked to leave the site very often, there were a lot of warnings, if he stays in between, he takes a risk himself,” said the spokesman. According to her, the claim to leave also applied to journalists with a press card. After it became clear that he had a press card, Karskens was released after the bus ride. Unlike the protesters who sat down, he was not officially detained.
Statement
Unheard The Netherlands wants to be admitted to public broadcasting next year. The broadcaster has 53,000 members and is already making online reports and live broadcasts. In a statement Ongehoord Nederland announces that Karskens has already shown his press card on Museumplein several times.
Karskens is said to have been deprived of his freedom for hours and hindered from exercising his profession. “As broadcasting association Ongehoord Nederland, we consider the behavior of the police in Amsterdam a gross violation of its journalistic freedom and we are considering further steps.”
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