Handling of Amsterdam sharia group criticised

Amsterdam VVD councillor, Robert Flos, has criticised the police for the way they dealt with a hate speech on Dam Square on Friday. On local television channel AT5, the councillor says the police failed to arrest the Sharia4Holland speakers, who made death threats aimed at Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders and arrested a passer-by who tried to enter a discussion with the speakers.

Mr Flos points out that making death threats is a criminal offence. The passer-by was heavy-handedly removed from the scene. The councillor told AT5 he was shocked but “a message of intolerance can even be made next to our monument of freedom.”

He has asked city Mayor Eberhard van der Laan for an explanation. The Sharia4Holland speaker called Mr Wilders “this dog of the Romans”, who will be dealt with once the Netherlands is an Islamic state. He also warned that lessons should be learnt from “the case of Theo van Gogh''.

The Public Prosecution and the police are investigating the comments made by the Sharia4Holland members, who want to impose Sharia law (Islamic law) in the Netherlands. According to experts, the movement in the Netherlands is very small with only around a dozen members and even radical imams want nothing to do with it. Sharia4Holland is an offshoot of Sharia4Belgium.

(nc/rk)