There were no threats, no shouts, no violence. Just a sandwich inside a bus. The consumption of food inside a public transport vehicle was the trigger for a police operation with 13 members of the security corps involved to arrest a 25-year-old boy who refused to stop eating his lunch.
It all started when a line driver from the city of Tilburg (southern Holland) felt "unsafe" after a boy refused to comply with the rules of metropolitan transport. After several unsuccessful attempts to stop the young man from eating, the driver refused to continue the journey and called the police to act ex officio.
Face-to-face testimonials from inside the vehicle ensure that the kid did not cause any problem to the driver or other passengers and at all times maintained a peaceful behavior. He just refused to obey the driver's orders. What comes next is the video that has set fire to social networks:
It is undoubtedly the most peculiar and discussed this week in the Netherlands by the possible abuse of power of the police. The images of the detention have served to open the debate about whether there is unnecessary police violence or if it was the necessary procedure if the boy did not want to abide by the rules. In the video you can see how the police forced the boy to get out of the vehicle despite his initial resistance. After the struggle, they manage to immobilize him in a bus stop "while one of the agents stuck an arm in his throat," says Yoni Klarenbeek, author of the images with a smartphone.
"The kid did not want to keep the sandwich when the bus driver asked for it, but he was not doing anything else dangerous, there were no insults or threats," he says. The operation ended the boy arrested at the police station, traffic stopped and passengers arriving late.
Interestingly, the Dutch public opinion has positioned itself largely in favor of the police in local media surveys. A little girl that came very expensive. By the way, we do not know if the sandwich was confiscated as the main test.