Photo: TEDxAmsterdam, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Dutch comedian Hans Teeuwen on Tuesday found himself the target of a police raid mere hours after publishing a video ridiculing Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema’s defense of allowing a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the opening of the city’s Holocaust museum over the weekend.
The motive for the raid was not political, police said—but because a handgun-like object could be seen on a table next to Teeuwen in the short video. The Netherlands has a strict ban not only on handguns, but also on objects made to mimic them, and, according to police, a “concerned individual” had contacted them after seeing the video on social media.
In the video, which was posted around noon on Tuesday, Teeuwen, impersonating Halsema, said: “In a city like Amsterdam, where people still feel the pain of the colonial history and slavery every day, it is incredibly important that people keep seeking to maintain connections, and hold on to each other.”
“In other words,” he said, still impersonating the mayor, “it is unavoidable that eggs, and Jewish hearts, are broken when making a beautiful and diverse omelet.”
Three hours later, Teeuwen posted a new video, showing six police officers arriving at his house. The comedian can be seen explaining to the officers that he is a performer and that the gun-like object is a prop. While Teeuwen did not mention this in the video, including the fake gun could have been a reference to the 2019 arrest of Halsema’s son on suspicion of burglary charges, at which time the boy allegedly threw a fake gun over the side of a houseboat.
Halsema has been roundly criticized for allowing the pro-Palestinian demonstration to take place so close to the opening of the Holocaust Museum. Commenting on the demonstration, which included shouts of “from the river to the sea” and “f***ing Jews,” Mayor Halsema on Monday defended the protesters’ right to free speech: “The right to demonstrate is part of a free and democratic society … It gives a voice to everyone who disagrees with something. That does not detract from the lasting value of the Holocaust Museum in our city.”
The fact that a comedian, the day after the mayor’s defense of free speech, got a visit from a sizable law enforcement detachment over a video was an irony not lost on the social media community.
One poster commented on Facebook, “Too ridiculous for words. Where were they on Sunday when Muslims screamed ‘Hamas is my brother’?” Another poster said, “The positive thing in my eyes after this raid by SIX humorless servants is the attention to the leftist Hamas scum who cruelly disrupted the opening of the Holocaust Museum and scolded the guests (Jewish Holocaust victims and descendants).”
It was unclear whether Mayor Halsema had been informed of the law enforcement raid beforehand. She did, however, comment on the video by saying “My hair usually looks better.”