The controversial columnist and filmmaker Theo van Gogh was brutally murdered by a Muslim extremist five years ago today and all of the papers mark the event that shook the Netherlands to the core. The image of being an open, tolerant society where one could say anything was shattered and Dutch society changed in a fundamental way.

Van Gogh was rude, coarse and - according to many - offensive but his murder was an abhorrent act that can never be justified.  The murder also had far-reaching consequences, many analysts believe that Geert Wilders and his far-right Freedom Party wouldn't be nearly so popular if van Gogh hadn't been slaughtered.

AD opens its coverage with "after van Gogh, people are scared to say anything controversial". Ton Folkertsma, who watched as Mohammed Bouyeri butchered the filmmaker, tells the paper that his life hasn't been the same since the murder and that the country has changed, "things are going badly in the Netherlands, things can't continue as they are. Maybe I'll be murdered tomorrow, or maybe it will be you".

Trouw interviews political scientist Sebastiaan van der Lubben who says that the murder created a general climate of fear that has now become institutionalised, "since van Gogh's murder, Wilders has been under 24-hour guard. That, to me, is ample evidence that the Netherlands has fundamentally changed".

Writer Nahed Selim tells the paper, "I'd call van Gogh a martyr for the cause of freedom of expression".

Vaccination programme gets underway
The other story dominating the Dutch papers is the start of the immunisation programme against influenza virus (A)H1N1 or as it is known in the Netherlands, Mexican flu. NRC.next reports that the first 5 million vaccines will be distributed today but asks, "Is it too late?"

AD reports that an increasing number of parents in the Netherlands are calling on the health ministry to expand the immunisation programme to include children and teenagers after a three-year-old died from Mexican flu last Thursday. According to the paper, many grandparents want to give their vaccine to their grandchildren and de Volkskrant reports that, "anxiety over Mexican flu is increasing".

Protests against squatting ban
Squatting was banned in the Netherlands in October and this weekend saw another round of protests. Several papers report that the Dutch embassy in Berlin was damaged when protesters pelted it with rocks and paint bombs. De Volkskrant reports that the building, designed by top architect Rem Koolhaas, suffered minor damage. According to the left-wing daily, Dutch embassies in Barcelona, Prague and Vienna were also targeted by sympathisers.

De Volkskrant reports that 21 buildings were squatted over the weekend as part of the national squatting day. One squatter tells the paper, "parliament may well have banned squatting but that doesn't mean to say that we're going to stop".

MPs call on prince to halt Mozambique holiday home project
Crown Prince Willem-Alexander's controversial vacation villas in Mozambique are back in the news; de Volkskrant's front-page headline reads, "Prince must get out of Machangulo". In an interview with a national news programme on Sunday, Democrat 66 leader Alexander Pechtold said the “crown prince should be forced to withdraw from the controversial real estate project in the East African country”. He also called for an emergency debate in the lower house of parliament on the matter later this week.

Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima are building two holiday villas on the Machangulo peninsular; local people were supposed to have benefited from the project, but MP Pechtold tells AD that protests by local people have allegedly been "broken up heavy-handedly by the authorities".

According to Mr Pechtold, the royal couple "are part owners of a ranch in Argentina, own a house in Curaçao, what more do they need?"

Eurovision hits false note with Dutch fans
AD reports that a Dutch boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest is in the air; according to a poll conducted by a commercial television station, a majority is in favour of boycotting the seriously camp Euro song competition.

Has Eurovision gotten too big and unwieldy or is this purely a case of sour grapes because the Netherlands has failed to make it into the second round final for the past several years?