Rotterdam residents show massive support for raped student

The residents of the Rotterdam district of De Esch expressed massive support for the Indonesian student who was raped and seriously injured in front of her home in the neighborhood a week and a half ago. In an initiative organized by two local residents, some 530 cards and messages were written for the young woman, NOS reports.

"We thought if ten cards come in, it's a lot. But people were very emotional. They said: Oh, I'm so glad I can do this", initiator Anja van Ditmarsch said to NOS. She and Paul Wiese stood at the neighborhood supermarket with a table full of cards for two days.

A police officer delivered the cards to the victim and her family, who came from Indonesia to support their daughter. "The family and the victim were overwhelmed by the amount and the messages on them. They were in Dutch, English, Indonesian, Chinese. Very beautiful, sweet messages", Wiese said to RTV Rijnmond.

Wiese heard that the victim is physically doing well. "Mentally she is recovering. She is very happy that her family came over from Indonesia. And she can laugh every now and again. That is, after the terrible things that happened to her, positive to hear."

A silent march will be held for the victim at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Participants will march from Rotterdam Centraal to De Esch, the route the young woman cycled to her home on Herman Bavinckstraat before she was raped. 

An 18-year-old Rotterdam man was arrested last week for the rape. He was tracked down based on surveillance camera footage. His DNA was also later matched with traces found on the victim, according to NOS.