Radicalization fears addressed 550 times with new hotline

The radicalization helpline, set up by the Moroccan Dutch Alliance, received 552 requests for help in the first year of its existence. 94 cases were so serious that the parents needed support from a counselor, the Alliance announced in a fact sheet on Tuesday.

Most of the requests for help, 31, came from Zuid-Holland. Of the serious radicalization cases, 66 involved persons over the age of 18, and 28 were minors. 52 were male and 42 were female.

Most of the serious cases, 45 percent, involved young people of Moroccan descent, followed by 28 percent Dutch. There were also reports of radicalization among Turks, Iraqi and Afghan Dutch.

According to the Alliance, young people are seeing less and less appeal in joining terrorist organization Islamic State. That may be connected to reports about the living conditions among jihadists in Syria and Iraq.