“Negro fascists” tweet leads to ouster of conservative party leader
Gert-Jaap van Ulzen, board member of the VVD in Leeuwarden, resigned from the party following posts he made on Twitter calling anti-Zwarte Piet activists "negro fascists". Faction secretary Joel Heiner confirmed to Omrp Fryslan that Van Ulzen decided to withdraw from the VVD Leeuwarden board after "good consultation" with the other board members.
Van Ulzen posted his tweets in response to a demonstration in Dokkum on Saturday, during which around 200 activists protested against racism and blackface Zwarte Piet, according to NOS. In his first tweet, Van Ulzen wrote: "Hello all 6 negro fascists from Amsterdam in the riot bus. Just act normal or go straight back home. And don't forget the 40+ white people in the back."
He also tweeted: "In the 1st bus there are 6 black fascists, the rest is filled up with white fans from the journaille." Journaille is a German pejorative term used to refer to tabloid journalism.
Van Ulzen removed the first tweet, but not before a number of other Twitter users took screenshots of it. "Twitter never forgets", action group Zwarte Piet is Racisme said when posting a picture of the Tweet.
A spokesperson for the national VVD board told NOS that Van Ulzen was not expelled, but that he is no longer active for the VVD. He added that people who say things like that, do not belong with the party.
According to the Telegraaf, Van Ulzen is known as the man who deleted a sentence about climate change from the VVD election program. The sentence in question stated that climate change leads to "rising sea levels and heavy rain showers".
