‘Crying cop’ gets letter from Dutch protester

MANILA, Philippines - A foreign activist who joined the protest rally during President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday wrote an open letter to a policeman who was seen crying during the clash between protesters and the riot police that left dozens injured.

“I write this letter because unlike the other police at the protest, you did not act violently like your mates and you did not attack us,” said Dutch Thomas van Beersum in his open letter to PO1 Joselito Sevilla of the Marikina police.

“You did what you thought was right. You were confronted with the repressive character of the police, and did not follow the orders of your superiors. This is a noble act,” noted Beersum in the letter published on Facebook Tuesday night.

“The police started to push us away. But I did not see you joining them. You stayed at the same place, crying behind your shield. I was wondering whether you did not attack us because you were overwhelmed of the situation, or if you had a genuine realization about who was causing this excessive use of repressive violence,” he added.

Beersum narrated his experience during the clash, which he said left at least 41 protesters injured. Twenty-one policemen, including Quezon City Police District Station 10 commander Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo, suffered injuries.

Also injured was former Bayan Muna representative and defeated senatorial candidate Teddy Casiño, whose forearm was swollen after he was reportedly hit by a police truncheon.

Beersum admitted he got angry following the initial confrontation between the protesters and the police. He said he started shouting at Sevilla, the police officer standing in front of him.

“I continued to ask you why the police was beating and hurting us. Your response was flashing a peace sign while saying ‘relax, relax’. While you were doing this, a few meters away from us the police was again beating the activists,” Beersum told Sevilla in the open letter.

“I started pointing at the attack and shouted ‘You are the ones that are hurting us! You started this conflict! Why are you doing this?’” he added.

It was at this point, Beersum said, that Sevilla started to get emotional. The foreigner said he wanted to talk to the police officer following the clashes but he was nowhere to be found.

‘Tired, hungry’

In an article published in ABS-CBNNews.com, photojournalist Rem Zamora said Sevilla told him that he cried because of hunger and fatigue due to lack of sleep.

Sevilla said that it was his first dispersal assignment.

Zamora took the photos of the crying Sevilla for ABS-CBNNews.com. The photos, some of which show some protesters trying to console the cop, have since gone viral on the Internet.

“A man held his shoulder, telling him that everything would be all right. Another woman comforted him, as she tried to give him a handkerchief to wipe his tears,” said Zamora.

He also noted that Sevilla “did not hurt the protesters, even if some were already throwing rocks and hitting cops with wooden sticks.”

“This incident only shows we are all human beings,” said the photojournalist.

“It is not bad to show weakness by crying; that we can still do our job, stand our ground, but still be peaceful and not hurt another human being; that two opposing groups can still show compassion as shown by the man and woman who hugged Sevilla,” he added.

On the same side

In his letter, Beersum said he hopes to see Sevilla again during next year’s SONA protests.

“But then I hope that we will be on the same side. Together against the crimes of the state and against the violent forces that exist purely to defend that state,” he said in the letter, which has received more than 700 likes and 500 shares as of yesterday afternoon.

The letter was received with mixed reactions, with some netizens posting negative messages for the Dutch.

Beersum was in the Philippines as part of an International Solidarity Mission and as a delegate of the International Conference on Human Rights and Peace held last weekend.

Meanwhile, a group of overseas Filipino workers will file charges against the police over the violent dispersal of rallyists during the SONA.

Migrante International said at least 15 of its members were injured, while one was arrested. – With Mayen Jaymalin