Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen says women who will not remove their burkas in order to get work should not receive welfare. Telegraaf reports that national politicians, including representatives from the CDA and PvDA parties, support this proposal. In 2006 Diemen local council attempted to introduce such a ban on benefits, but the decision was reversed…
Rotterdam city council suspects that some girls may have been married against their will over the summer. The suggestion stems from a campaign instituted at the end of the last academic term to help girls avoid arranged marriages. In May, Telegraaf reported that the new measures would allow girls who are worried they may be…
A court in the Netherlands has ordered far-right politician Geert Wilders to stand trial in January 2010. The leader of the Freedom Party is charged with inciting discrimination and hatred with his statements about Islam and Muslims. The public prosecution court determined in January 2009 that Wilders would stand trial for his inflammatory remarks, including…
On September 8 police in The Hague found a doll depicting Freedom Party (PVV) leader Geert Wilders hanging from a tree near the central station. The doll had a picture of Wilders affixed to it with a knife, and smeared with a substance intended to look like blood. Police arrested four individuals aged 18-19, students…
Public schools in Amsterdam’s Slotervaart district will not offer Islam classes, Telegraaf reports. The classes were requested a year ago by district mayor Ahmed Marouch, who hoped that offering the classes outside the regular school-day would offer parents an alternative to religious education in the mosques. Currently, in-school Islamic classes are offered to children in…
