National ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen said on Wednesday he will investigate an incident in which a woman was doorstepped by police in Amersfoort and questioned about her participation in pro-Palestine demonstrations.

“I have never heard of police coming to a person’s house and asking questions about demonstrations,” he said.

The woman, who filmed the encounter and put the video on social media, refused to let the men in or answer their questions, except to say she had a right to “demonstrate against the genocide”.

The appearance of two policemen on her doorstep was “intimidating”, she told the AD, particularly when they said they knew she was moving soon.  “I felt the police were monitoring me on social media,” she told the paper.

Van Zutphen, a former criminal judge, said the video gave the impression that “here was a suspect interrogated by police”.

The ombudsman said the right to demonstrate is a basic right and that he will be talking to the Amersfoort police about the incident, which he said gave him “an eerie feeling that something is not right”.

The Amersfoort police force has since apologised to the woman and said privacy concerns stood in the way of revealing why they paid the call.

Janny Knol, chief of the national police force, slated the practice saying “It is not on to question people about their participation in demonstrations. We are not the thought police.”

Climate activists Extinction Rebellion (XR) said it is not unusual for demonstrators and activists to be doorstepped by police, and Amnesty International has also received reports of similar incidents. XR has announced it will take the police to court and demand an end to unannounced police house calls.

Van Zutphen concluded as early as 2018 that the right to demonstrate in the Netherlands is under pressure.  Police and local authorities often have to tread a fine line between the right to demonstrate and maintaining public order, but in essence, the constitutional right to demonstrate should have priority, Van Zutphen said at the time.

A follow-up investigation into how the right to demonstrate is affected will now include the doorstepping practices, Van Zutphen said.