A video circulating widely on Dutch media and social platforms in recent days has ignited public outrage after appearing to show Dutch police violently assaulting a woman who was nine months pregnant.

The footage prompted an immediate response from Dutch police, who confirmed that an investigation had been opened into the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Syria TV contacted the woman and the man seen in the video to clarify what happened. The woman is Syrian, and the man who intervened to defend her is her husband, a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip.

Her husband, 30-year-old Wissam Miqdad, said the incident occurred on 19 May, shortly after he received what he believed was news that his brothers and several close friends had been killed in an Israeli strike on Gaza. The report later proved false, but Miqdad said he was already under severe emotional strain after he and his wife had received a deportation order.

“I was overwhelmed by grief and went into a violent state of anger after hearing the news,” he told Syria TV. “I smashed some furniture in the room where I was staying at an asylum seekers’ reception center in Zeist.”

Staff at the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) immediately contacted Dutch police, who arrived shortly afterward to arrest him.

Miqdad said he did not resist.

“When the police arrived, I did not resist any of them, and this is clear in the video,” he said. “I raised my hands while my wife was speaking to the police, asking them to let her come with me, to treat me with some respect and kindness, and to take into account the situation I was going through.”

He said one officer then used excessive force against his wife, despite being told she was nine months pregnant.

“He threw her to the ground,” Miqdad said. “At that moment I lost control because I feared for her and for the baby. I attacked him to defend her, although I was unarmed. Then all of them began beating us before they arrested me.”

Four Days in Custody and a Pending Trial

Miqdad said he was held for four days pending investigation, then released by a judge after agreeing to pay for the damage caused in his room. He is still awaiting trial.

Miqdad is a Palestinian asylum seeker who left Gaza for Turkey, then traveled to Greece, where he obtained a residence permit. After the permit expired and was not renewed, he left Greece irregularly—like many refugees—passing through Italy, France, and then Germany, where he applied for asylum in 2024.

In Germany, he said, he reunited with the Syrian woman he had previously known in Greece, and the two later married. His asylum request was rejected because he had previously been received in Greece, and a deportation order was issued against him. His wife, however, held a valid residence permit in Germany.

“My wife decided to leave Germany in 2024 for my sake,” Miqdad said. “We decided to apply for asylum in the Netherlands. We wanted to live together. We had heard that the Netherlands was a country that respected human rights. I am Palestinian from Gaza, and my family is suffering the horrors of war. We believed they would understand our story and grant us residence permits.”

Instead, he said, their asylum claim was rejected several months ago. A decision was issued to deport him to Egypt and his wife to Germany after she gave birth—without clarifying the fate of their child.

“They also told us that we were not qualified to raise the baby,” Miqdad said. “We feared that our daughter would be taken from us after her birth. So I later decided that we should leave the Netherlands for Germany and apply for asylum again.”

His wife gave birth to their first daughter a few days ago. The couple are now waiting for German authorities to review their case.

“We hope they will do us justice,” Miqdad said, “and not separate us again or deport us.”

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.