Footage spreading across social media shows a Dutch police officer grabbing a visibly pregnant woman and throwing her to the ground, igniting outrage for viewers across the world.
The incident occurred at an immigration detention center for asylum seekers on in the town of Zeist in the Netherlands, according to Metro UK. In the widely circulating clip, officers are seen surrounding a man before the woman approaches, and an officer forcibly takes her down.
Afterward, a man rushes to try to punch the officer who knocked her down before the officer strikes back, and several other officers join in on the altercation.
In another clip, the woman, who appears to be dazed, can be seen being dragged along the floor as other people watch on.
The woman has said she was at the migration center because authorities had detained her Palestinian husband there. The man connected to the arrest has been identified as 30-year-old Wesam Mekdad, a Palestinian from Gaza.
Dutch police said officers were initially called to the scene over a reported vandalism incident involving threats with a knife. No official justification for the use of force against the pregnant woman was offered.
The video has drawn widespread condemnation around the world, with people online questioning why officers would use physical force against a pregnant bystander without any explanation.
