Enschede official attacked, possibly stabbed Monday morning

A municipal official in Enschede had his car damaged during an attack on his person on Monday morning. A spokesperson for the municipality confirmed this to NRC, but would not confirm reports in local newspaper Tubantia that the official had been stabbed a total of six times. According to Tubantia, the attack happened on the outskirts of Enschede Oost, bordering an area where the municipality is planning a refugee center. Protests against the refugee center were held over the weekend, during which six people were arrested. At this stage it is unclear whether the attack on the official has anything to do with the refugee center and protests. A number of municipal officials and local government members have been threatened in connection with asylum centers in their municipalities over the past few weeks. Last month at least two council members in Rijswijk and the mayor of Rijssen-Holten received threatening letters after their municipalities announced the arrival of refugee centers. Last week the GroenLinks leader in Wormerland Harold Halewijn's two cars were set on fire on the same day the municipality had arranged an information evening for local residents about a refugee center. These events prompted party leaders to write a joint public letter in which they called on voters to not let the asylum debate escalate. "Do not confuse threats and insults with debate", they wrote. Since they published the letter, VVD leader Halbe Zijlstra, GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver, D66 leader Alexander Pechtold and CDA leader Sybrand Buma also announced that they too had been threatened in connection with the asylum debate. The most recent poll by Maurice de Hond revealed that a large majority of Dutch voters finds the letter by the party leaders to be a good initiative, but an even larger majority believe that the party leaders themselves are responsible for the escalation of the asylum debate.