Original article (in Serbian) was published on 18/05/2023
A video is being shared on social networks in which two young men harass a man walking a dog on the street. Users from Serbia claim that this incident happened in Sombor and that the man is being mistreated by migrants. However, the video was created in the Netherlands at the beginning of May, and the police there have since arrested the young men from the video.
A reader brought to our attention that a disturbing 45-second video is circulating on Facebook these days. In the video, two young guys hit a man walking a dog, while the third one films and throws things. Facebook users claim that this incident happened in Sombor and that the attackers are actually migrants.
“They beat, harass, slap in broad daylight. Well, if a man had a weapon, he would immediately defend himself from violent migrants… Sombor… People, share en masse. The chaos caused by polar bears in Vojvodina”, states the post on Facebook.
Some of the comments under the post were clearly directed against migrants, such as: “Migrants are freed”, “Terrible, don’t hand over your weapons”. “What are you allowing yourself, Serbia? That these scumbags slap your citizens. If the EU sends you such murderers and evildoers, expel them all if the power has not betrayed you”.
This incident, however, did not happen in Sombor, but in the town of Pijnaker in the Netherlands.
The same video was shared on social networks in the Netherlands at the beginning of last week, and the police there announced on May 10 that three young men from this city were arrested after an investigation.
“The victim was walking his dog in Nobellaan Street on May 8 around 3:30 in the afternoon. At the intersection, he encountered a group of young men, three of whom followed him. Two of them hit him, and the third was filming. After a bystander called the police, the group dispersed. The video of the attack was shared on social networks, which prompted the police to launch an investigation. After the investigation, the police arrested three young men aged 13, 14 and 15 from the town of Pijnaker”, the Dutch police said in a statement.
Although the Dutch police did not publish the video they mention in the statement, we managed to establish that they are talking about this very event, which Facebook users have now mistakenly “placed” in Sombor.
The police said in the statement that the incident happened at the intersection of Nobellaan and Einsteinlaan, and we found the mentioned intersection on Google Maps.
Using the Street View option, we determined that it is incident from the video because several objects at this intersection are the “same” as those seen in the video.
The mayor of Pijnaker, Bjorn Lugthart, spoke about this incident and stated on Twitter that the behaviour of these boys is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.