A nice mixed bag of items lead in today’s Dutch dailies. A sign, at least, that there’s been no – more - major catastrophes big enough to spark a united approach on the papers ‘ front pages.

Labour rebellion over ritual slaughter
On the domestic front there’s an interesting debate in parliament today, in which the rights of the country’s religious communities are pitched against those of its animals and those who think they deserve better protection.
 
The issue: whether or not to ban ritual slaughter – in which the animals are not stunned in any way prior to having their throats cut – of the kind practised within Judaism and Islam. It looks as if a majority in the lower house will back the ban, proposed by the small Animal Rights’ Party, which has just two of the 150 seats in the chamber. 
 
Today’s nrc.next looks at how the issue has caused a rift in a local branch of the largest opposition party, Labour, which has already said it supports the proposal. But the paper tells us that’s sparked a mutiny in the party’s Amsterdam branch and a commotion elsewhere, too. Unusually perhaps, the issue appears to be uniting Jews and Muslims both in and outside the Labour Party. Those within Labour want the decision to back the ban discussed again, and are not happy it was taken without their being consulted.
 
One provincial Labour politician quoted by nrc.next says ”This is really serious as far as I’m concerned. A great number of Muslims and Jews voted for our party, also because they thought freedom of religion was in safe hands with us.” 
 
RNW will no doubt keep you posted on further developments regarding this issue which, as left-of-centre de Volkskrant reports, brought delegations of senior rabbis from Belgium, France, Germany and the United States to Amsterdam Schiphol airport yesterday to back the Jewish protest against the proposal. 
 
The paper also reveals that the apparent ‘united front’ between the Jews and Muslims may not be so very united after all. It quotes one senior rabbi saying “the film about ritual slaughter the Animal Rights’ Party has been showing was made in an Islamic halal slaughterhouse. This isn’t about us”.

Bitterness in battledress
Today’s de Volkskrant looks at one of series of meetings being held by the country’s military trade unions (yes, there are such things here) about the government’s plans – described as quite drastic - to trim down the armed forces both in terms of material and personnel. 
 
Under the headline “Disbelief and bitterness among the cavalry” the paper’s reporter speaks to soldiers – members of what is now actually a tank battalion despite the cavalry name - at the meeting, including 23-year-old Mike Vink: “I wanted to do this work way back when I had stabiliser wheels on my bike”. Now he’s just heard that his battalion is to be disbanded within one month. The country is, in fact, about to get rid of all its tanks. 
 
De Volkskrant reports that there’s a great deal of military personnel support for possible industrial action – not only because of the cuts, but also the fact that salaries have not been raised for some time. One army commander accuses the current defence minister of a ‘lack of vision’, “I told him as much at a meeting… Minister [Hans] Hillen maintains the army will still be capable of deployment on a wide range of operations, but that’s not the case.”
 
The article tells us that while these soldiers have spent more time recently doing exercises on foot for missions such as the recent one in Afghanistan, while their tanks spend more time back at base, they’ve also noted how other countries like Denmark and Canada have been using the very same Leopard tanks on their operations in Afghanistan. 
 
One soldier says: “We even trained the Canadians over in Kandahar. They’d already got rid of the tanks, but then changed their minds.” The Dutch soldiers now fear that if the Netherlands ever comes to regret this decision, all their know-how and experience will have been lost. 
 
De Volkskrant tells us the battalion’s members will spend the next weeks getting their tanks ready for what is to come (sale to foreign armies?), and that after 9 May they’ll be free to apply for jobs elsewhere in the armed forces. But with several thousand compulsory redundancies due in the Dutch military over the coming years, their long-term futures don’t look too secure.

Back to “normal”
The aftermath of Saturday’s horrific mass shooting at a shopping centre in the small town of Alphen aan den Rijn receives continued coverage in all the papers. De Telegraaf opens with several photos taken yesterday when De Ridderhof shopping centre opened its doors for business once again. Under the headline “You have to go on” these photos show the town’s acting mayor visiting the centre to show his support and sympathy, and people still laying flowers for the dead and wounded. 
 
It’s the front page story, too, for AD. Its lead item, however, focuses on the gunman, 24 year-old ‘loner’ Tristan van der Vlis. Local public prosecutor Kitty Nooy tells the paper that his ‘suicide’ note and computer files show he had been obsessed with “all the nasty stuff in the world, like natural disasters … and horrid things that happen to people ”. 
 
A former colleague tells the paper: “He said – heaven knows why – that it was a sign the Chernobyl disaster had happened in the year he was born.” The authorities, AD tells us, are now investigating whether he may have been suffering from schizophrenia.
 
Public prosecutor Nooy tells the paper that he had fired a total of three weapons and used up five rounds of ammunition, each containing 20 to 25 bullets.

Making a point
On the subject of the Alphen shooting, today’s more ‘up-market’ free commuter daily De Pers takes this incident to make a point which is worth reflecting on. 
 
Once a week, De Pers features a special a page called De Speld (the pin/needle) which sets out to ‘burst certain balloons’ in a most satirical way. I think a few lines – in translation – from this article will make everything clear.
 
The headline: “White community condemns shooting”
“…. The gunman in Alphen aan den Rijn is the fifth non-coloured person to carry out such an attack in the last ten years. Groups representing the white community have their backs against the wall as the call for an apology grows within the society. Spokespeople for various white organisations have already publicly distanced themselves from this act of terror.”
 
Later on, this spoof article says: “Telegraaf editor-in-chief … stands by his decision to reveal the ethnicity of the suspect, ‘It’s simply a fact that non-coloured young men are overrepresented among the perpetrators of all kinds of violations. People need to know that the majority of tax evasion cases, football violence and racist acts are committed by whites.”
 
And, later on: “If we stay silent, we’ll be accused of a lack of feeling,” according to Egbert van der Stee, spokesman for the Protestant Church of the Netherlands, a moderate white organisation…”