Projection of “White Lives Matter” was previously seen in Venlo

The slogan “White Lives Matter,” which was projected onto the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam on New Year's, had been seen days earlier on the facade of the UWV building in Venlo, as well as a Primark retail location in the city.

Mayor Antoin Scholten will meet with the police on Monday to discuss what steps can be taken. They have already started removing the stickers with a similar slogan in the Venlo city centre. A spokesperson for the mayor confirmed this after it was reported by the Limburger on Thursday.

A beamer was used to project the text, “White Lives Matter”, in blue letters onto the facade of the building on the Prinsessensingel on December 28. A video was shared on Telegram linking that action with one in which the text was shown in green on the Primark, as well as placing stickers promoting the White Lives Matter's social media channel.

Scholten said on Thursday that he thinks it was both "reprehensible," and not in common with the typical Venlo resident.

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) is pursuing a criminal investigation for the incident in Rotterdam, which the office considers an act of hate speech. The words seen on the Erasmus Bridge thus not considered to be protected as a form of freedom of speech. “One of the boundaries is that expressions are never permitted to incite discrimination or insult another population group,” said the OM earlier this week.

A spokesperson for the OM in Limburg could not say much on Thursday about what the office will do next. The Public Prosecution Service is awaiting for someone to file a report pressing charges, and as far as she knew, no such report had been received.

A police spokesperson also declined to say Thursday whether a report has been filed. "We never make any statements about that," she said.

The slogan "White Lives Matter" is considered a reaction to the "Black Lives Matter" movement that was popularized by white supremacists and embraced by some on the extreme right. The Dutch branch of an organization calling itself White Lives Matter, which projected several controversial statements on the Erasmus Bridge during the New Year's celebration, appears to be part of a broader international network of extremist groups.