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Arrests absurd - Netherlands

2010-06-16 19:04
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The Hague - Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said on Wednesday the arrest of two Dutch nationals in South Africa for a World Cup marketing stunt was "absurd".

Thirty-six women wore short orange miniskirts for a Dutch brewing company at the Netherlands-Denmark World Cup match on Monday. Two Dutch women, said to have organised the so-called "ambush marketing", were arrested on Wednesday.

Verhagen "finds the arrest and (criminal) charge to be a disproportional reaction", he said in a statement released by the Dutch foreign ministry.

"It is absurd that the two women have a jail term hanging over their heads for wearing orange dresses in a football stadium," Verhagen added.

"If South Africa or FIFA wants to take a company to task for an illegal marketing action, they should start judicial procedures against the company and not against ordinary citizens walking around in orange dresses."

The ministry has conveyed its concerns to the South African embassy in the Netherlands, the statement said.

The two women were receiving consular assistance.

The South African police said it had arrested two Dutch women for "ambush marketing".

They had been among a group of 36 women, three of them from the Netherlands, detained in Johannesburg on Monday and questioned for several hours for wearing the orange dresses at the match.

The dresses were sold with Bavaria Beer packs in the Netherlands in the run-up to the tournament.

The two face three possible charges, including a violation of the Merchandise Marks Act.

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