Amsterdam police investigate social media racism during slavery commemoration

The Amsterdam police launched an investigation int racist and discriminatory comments on social media during and after the television broadcast of the commemoration for the abolition of slavery on July 1st, NOS reports.

According to Amsterdam police chief Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, many unacceptable comments were posted on social media while the memorial was being broadcast. "The comments were discriminatory or even racist", he said to AT5. "We want to remove the anonymity from this kind of anonymous remarks. You are not anonymous, not even on the internet. We want to show that we do not tolerate racism and discrimination in our city."

He would not give examples of the comments. "I'm not going to repeat the comments", he said to the Amsterdam broadcaster. One person pressed charges over various comments. "I expect more charges. We will make a file of that and hand it over to the Public Prosecutor. Together we will look at how punishable the comments are."

The commemoration of the abolition of slavery happened in Amsterdam's Oosterpark on July 1st. Speakers included South African author Diana Ferrus, Minister Stef Blok of Housing and Amsterdam alderman Simone Kukenheim, according to NOS. 

In het Oosterpark waar zo de jaarlijkse herdenking van de afschaffing van de slavernij gaat beginnen.#parool pic.twitter.com/tgpgmwQys5

— Patrick Meershoek (@PMeershoek) July 1, 2017