A number of the Dutch papers are reporting that a helpline for victims of anti-gay hate crime was launched on Tuesday.

Henk Krol, editor of the Gay Krant newspaper which set up the phone line, says homosexuals in the Netherlands are being terrorised on a large scale. De Telegraaf newspaper reports a majority of MPs want a debate on the issue.

The recent case of a homosexual couple who were forced to move from their house in The Hague after being harassed for years by immigrant-community children, received wide publicity.

Mr Krol tells De Telegraaf that there are similar examples of gay couples being forced out of homes in Utrecht and Amsterdam. He gives examples of harassment, such as “shit through the letterbox, pornographic pictures in the front garden or ‘homo’ scratched on car paintwork”.

Judging from the reports made on the first day of the helpline’s operation, it appears that homosexuals throughout the Netherlands are being verbally abused and having their lives made a misery, according to De Telegraaf. There are also reports of physical abuse.

(mw/hs)

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