Investigation launched into group that threatens left-wing figures
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) has opened an investigation into the right-wing action group Vizier op Links, caretaker Minister of Integration Wouter Koolmees said in parliament on Tuesday. Several complaints were received from people who had stickers saying they were ‘being observed’ sent to their homes.
During the parliament debate, Koolmees called the sticker campaign launched by Vizier op Links 'intimidating and crossing the norms'. The fact that the Public Prosecution Service is now conducting an investigation is, according to Koolmees, a sign that 'action is indeed taken' when this type of intimidation occurs.Among those who received threatening messages from the group was Assistant Professor Nadia Bouras, who teaches migration history at Leiden University. She found the sticker placed on her doorpost in March.
The sticker reads, "Observed location. This location is being observed by followers of Vizier Op Links. Go to vizieroplinks.org to share tips and get a view of leftist activists." GroenLinks politician Huub Bellemakers and Paul van den Berg, a political advisor to development organization Cordaid, are said to have received messages from the group which they found intimidating.
On its website, the group's stated goal is to break the "left hegemony", by "mapping left-wing networks" with tips from followers. The website states that "the activist left has nestled in the capillaries of our system: media, education, justice, government and business."
Twitter previously also took action against Vizier op Link by removing their account for being 'in violation of the platform rules'.
SP Member of Parliament Renske Leijten said during the debate that there is now 'too little attention' paid to the dangers coming from extreme right action groups. She pointed to the attack in Christchurch in New Zealand in which 51 people were killed in a local mosque by a right-wing extremist two years ago.
"Does it have to go completely wrong before we see that it is a big problem?" said Leijten.
Vizier op Links was included in the most recent threat assessment of the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV)
