Politician subjected to racial abuse asked to meet with authorities

The Public Prosecutor plans to meet with new politician Sylvana Simons about the online racial abuse directed at her person. Amsterdam police chief Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg also called on her to press charges. A spokesperson for the Prosecutor told Het Parool that they are launching an exploratory investigation into "the nature" of remarks made against Simons. And in cooperation with the police, the authorities will monitor online comments and reactions. The racial abuse against Simons started after she joined political party DENK last week. Over the past days Simons has been the target of racist remarks on social media, with name calling ranging from Zwarte Piet to tramp. Donny Morero - founder of Nederland mijn vaderderland and PVV aanhangers - created an event against Simons on Facebook saying that she "hates" everything "made by the Netherlands, or that is a tradition". Numerous extreme comments can be seen on the page, made by some of the 19 thousand people who said they'd be attending the fictional event. On AT program Het Verhoor Aalbersberg called on Simons, and all other victims of online racial abuse, to press charges. "To do a proper investigation, it is necessary that a report has been made", he said. He confirmed that the police and prosecutor are busy with a pre-investigation into the comments. Earlier this week Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asscher called the remarks against Simons "disgusting". On Nieuwsuur he said that some of the comments need to end up in court.