Hague Hindu temple vandalized; mayor intervenes

Mayor Pauline Krikke of The Hague is arranging extra security for the Hindu temple in Schilderswijk after the temple was vandalized for the second time in a week.The windows of the temple were broken on Tuesday night. The same thing happened last week, NOS reports.

"I have expressed my support", the Mayor said to the broadcaster. "This vandalism has to stop. I also had extensive consultations with the police and gave the order to place camera surveillance at the temple as quickly as possible. I hope that this will help to bring back calm and restore public order."

Radijn Ramdhani, an employee at the temple, calls the vandalism "very sad". He hopes that the perpetrators are tracked down soon. "I expect them to be the same perpetrators. They maybe feel addressed after the incident last week, so they did it again", he said to Omroep West.

According to Ramdhani, this is the umpteenth time that the temple and its visitors are targeted. They used to hold their prayer services in the garden, but had to move them inside because visitors were insulted and had stones pelted at them, he said. 

On Twitter Pieter Grinwis, city councilor in The Hague for ChristenUnie-SGP, called the vandalism "scandalous". He believes the police should treat this as a hate crime, instead of vandalism.