DayofPal– A video went viral on social media shows a Dutch police officer forcefully pushing a heavily pregnant woman to the ground and assaulting her.
The woman said the incident happened at an asylum centre where her Palestinian husband was being held by authorities and is at risk of deportation.
The video triggered widespread outrage on social media, drawing condemnation over the treatment of Palestinians and refugees and the broader crackdown on asylum seekers across Europe.
Another video shows the police dragging her across the floor as they handcuff her husband.
The attack took place on May 19 but videos began circulating on social media on Friday in an asylum centre in Zeist, near Amsterdam.
Her husband was badly beaten as he tried to defend his wife.
The woman said she went into early labour five days later and delivered a premature baby girl.
In a video call, she told journalists that police detained her husband after he smashed a TV as he learnt a relative had been killed in the Gaza Strip by Israel.
She said she had asked the officers whether she could go with him, at which point one of them grabbed her.
The Dutch police claimed they are investigating the incident. Several other officers stood by and did nothing to prevent the attack.
Her husband, Wesam Mekdad, is a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip who “fled in search of safety and the opportunity to work so that I could send money to my family in Gaza.”
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