NETHERLANDS: ISLAMIC SCHOOL SET ON FIRE IN UDEN SHORTLY AFTER FUNERAL SERVICE HELD IN AMSTERDAM FOR MURDERED FILMMAKER THEO VAN GOGH
Record ID:
858647
NETHERLANDS: ISLAMIC SCHOOL SET ON FIRE IN UDEN SHORTLY AFTER FUNERAL SERVICE HELD IN AMSTERDAM FOR MURDERED FILMMAKER THEO VAN GOGH
- Title: NETHERLANDS: ISLAMIC SCHOOL SET ON FIRE IN UDEN SHORTLY AFTER FUNERAL SERVICE HELD IN AMSTERDAM FOR MURDERED FILMMAKER THEO VAN GOGH
- Date: 9th November 2004
- Summary: CROWD WATCHING CEREMONY ON SCREEN OUTSIDE CREMATORIUM, VIOLINS PLAYING
- Embargoed: 24th November 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: UDEN / AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
- City:
- Country: Netherlands
- Topics: Crime,General
- Reuters ID: LVADOF19RL5BLZZBNL9IHSH52XI7
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: An Islamic school in the Netherlands set on fire
shortly after funeral service held for filmmaker Theo van
Gogh.
Arsonists set a Dutch Muslim school ablaze on
Tuesday (November 9) night, the latest in a series of such
attacks that came only hours after the cremation of
film-maker Theo van Gogh, killed last week by a suspected
Islamic militant.
There were no reports of deaths or injuries.
A wave of arson attacks has targeted at least eight
mosques since Van Gogh, whose criticism of Islam enraged
Muslims, was shot and stabbed as he cycled to work last
Tuesday (November 2). A small bomb also damaged a Muslim
school in Eindhoven on Monday (November 8).
In the latest attack, arsonists set fire to a Muslim
school in the southern Dutch village of Uden, Dutch
television said.
The words "Theo R.I.P." were scrawled on the walls of
the school along with a "White Power" sign a Dutch news
agency reported. Nobody was hurt, but Dutch television
showed fire-fighters battling flames leaping from the roof
of the building.
Earlier, two churches in the central towns of Utrecht
and Amersfort and two others in the city of Rotterdam were
slightly damaged in what appeared to be tit-for-tat
attacks.
A 26-year-old Dutch-Moroccan has been charged with
killing Van Gogh, whose funeral on Tuesday was attended by
friends and family and was broadcast live on national
television.
But members of a Dutch-Moroccan organisation gathered
outside the ceremony in Amsterdam to show solidarity
between the two nationalities.
Job Cohen, Mayor of Amsterdam, made it apparent that he
wanted an end to the mindless killings.
"We are the ones who are not going to put up with this,
and they are the ones who do this to us," said Cohen.
He was joined by about a thousand people who watched
the service on a large screen. They carried flowers and
candles and held placards, including one that asked, "Who's
next?" referring to the recent killing of politician Pim
Fortuyn, who was also assassinated for speaking out against
immigration.
The clothes of one demonstrator spoke for itself. "Fuck
fundamentalism" was written across his chest.
"People must think in another way, because we are all
human beings and nobody is the same. We should accept each
other as we are," said the demonstrator.
Van Gogh's father and sister told the funeral the film
director would have deplored the attacks on Muslim
buildings.
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende demanded a return
to the Dutch tradition of tolerance. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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