By Abdullah Asiran
AMSTERDAM (AA) – A Dutch man carrying an Israel’s flag attacked a woman of Irish origin, who joined a demonstration in support of Palestine, in the Netherlands' capital city on Sunday.
During the demonstration staged by the Palestinian Community in the Netherlands (PGNL) in Amsetrdam's Dam Square, the man took the Palestinian flag from a child’s hand and threw it on the ground, erupting tensions.
After the attack, which occurred in front of police officers, the Dutch man was arrested.
The father of the child and the woman who was attacked filed a complaint.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Robert Willem van Norren, one of the demonstrators, said it was not the first time the man caused such problems and he was arrested 11 times for similar reasons before.
Recalling that the municipality had allowed demonstrations one week for Palestine, the other for Israel, Norren said: “He shouldn’t have been here today. This week it was our turn for a demonstration.”
For the last six months, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have staged almost-daily demonstrations along the heavily-fortified buffer zone with Israel.
Since the demonstrations began on March 30, more than 190 Palestinians have been martyred — and thousands more injured — by Israeli troops deployed along the other side of the buffer zone.
Protesters demand the “right of return” to their homes and villages in historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.
They also demand an end to Israel’s 12-year-long blockade of Gaza, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.
