Ruptly
"Pro-asylum centre demonstrators rallied in Utrecht on Saturday and were later encountered by a group of counter-protesters. Footage shows pro-migration activists waving flags and holding banners reading 'Safety is a human right' and 'Women for refugees', while counter-demonstrators burn flares, wave Dutch and orange flags with a lion reading 'Holland' and hold a banner reading 'We demand our country back', with police erecting barricades to separate the groups. "We're here to show that the Netherlands should be a safe place for anyone. Women are not safe on the streets, that's 100 percent true, but perpetrators of that are men in general," a pro-asylum centre protester said. "There's a really high femicide rate in the Netherlands. There's a lot of sexual harassment going on, but this is coming from people in Dutch society and is not at all linked to the rise in refugee numbers," she continued. According to the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, 25 percent of women in the Netherlands say they regularly feel unsafe in public spaces, a figure that rises to over 33 percent for those under the age of 35. "By saying that it's the refugees who do it, you're just pointing out one specific group that is not even the main responsible. It doesn't make women safer, and it makes refugees less safe," the demonstrator stressed. She added that this approach will not protect Dutch women from other forms of violence originating closer to home, such as partner violence and rape in student housing, which, according to her, are among 'the most prevalent types of violence' faced in the Netherlands. Last month, the Dutch Senate approved a two-tier asylum system that limits family reunification and weakens protections for many refugees, drawing criticism from rights groups. Under the new law, asylum seekers are split into two categories: those fleeing persecution due to sexual orientation, ethnicity, or religion, and those fleeing war or climate change impacts."
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