It happened in a flash last night, Olav says. He had received a report of an accident in The Hague and, as usual, went there to report it. “While parking my car, I noticed that the situation on site was quite chaotic,” says Olav. “So I kept my distance.”
Flame in the pan
In addition to the two fat bike accident victims, family members of at least one of them were also present. And even though Olav had kept his distance, he had apparently attracted their attention. “A family member of one of those involved saw me standing with my camera and immediately came to me and told me that I was not allowed to take any images and that I had to delete my images. Fortunately, this was quickly calmed down by an officer.”
A few minutes later things started to escalate when Olav tried to take images of the other victim of the accident. “The lady who had come to me earlier so hysterical was already in her car with her family member who had facial injuries. The police told her to leave, but when I wanted to take another photo, she got out and she attacked me.”
Watch the images of the abuse here:
“I was hit several times with fists on my head and neck. I then fell to the ground to protect my equipment and the like. When I tell it like this, it all seems to have taken a very long time, but It happened in a flash.”
Concussion
The woman was arrested at the scene. It concerns a 27-year-old woman from The Hague, the police confirm. She’s still stuck on the desk.
Olav was able to report the incident to the police station and went to the doctor’s office for a check-up. “The complaints got worse at the office. I bruised some muscles and had a concussion. I’ve had quite a bit of trouble, but I hope to get back to work as soon as possible. That may be more stubborn than sensible. But I just want doing what I am good at. And that is making images of news events.”
Thomas Bruning of the Dutch Association of Journalists says it is very good that Olav has filed a report. “This is bad and unfortunately it is not an isolated incident,” says Bruning. “We see too often that photo and video journalists have to deal with aggressiveness. It’s good that he has video images so that the outside world can see what impact it has on people who are just doing their job.”
“We recommend that photojournalists use a bodycam in these types of situations to capture such events,” says Bruning. “This way the people who do this can be properly dealt with.”
“This is not possible and should not be done in the Netherlands,” D66 MP Jan Paternotte responded to the abuse via X. “If journalists cannot report safely and freely, we have a problem.”
Tags: photographer Olav films abuse Bruised muscles concussion lot pain
