Ahmed Aboutaleb

Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb, the police and the Public Prosecutor in the city are concerned about the increasing cocaine trafficing through the port of Rotterdam and the consequences it will have on the city's residents, the Telegraaf reports. 

"There is so much money involved in the smuggling of cocaine that the crime that goes along with it is huge", Public Prosecutor spokesperson Jeichien de Graaff said to the Telegraaf. "We see it here in the region but also in other cities."

Turkish consul-general Sadin Ayyildiz cancelled a meeting scheduled with Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb for today, a spokesperson for Aboutaleb confirmed to the Telegraaf. The mayor wanted to discuss tensions in the Turkish community and a controversial letter sent to mayors in the Rotterdam region

Turkish-Dutch who openly support Fethullah Gulen received serious threats after a failed attempted coup in Turkey last week, the Volkskrant reports based on conversations with threatened Gulen supporters.

Thirteen PvdA mayors called on their colleague Ahmed Aboutaleb to run for PvdA leadership. "The party needs you", the mayors wrote in an open letter addressed to the Rotterdam Mayor in the Volkskrant on Saturday.

Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem thinks that Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb should immediately present himself as candidate for leadership of the PvdA, he said to RTL Z. Last week the Rotterdam mayor said that he would run, but only if current leader Diederik Samsom does not.

More than half of all the Islamic institutions and businesses in the Rotterdam-Rijnmond region faced discrimination last year and in the first three months of this. In the same period more than 700 Muslims in the region also reported being threatened or unfair treatment because of their religion, according to a study by umbrella organization SPIOR

People all over the Netherlands observed two minutes of silence at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday night to commemorate victims of the Second World War and other conflicts and wars that followed. Public transport came to a stand still and cars pulled over where they were to participate in the commemoration.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima will be attending the Remembrance Day ceremony in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam on May 4th. Prime Minister Mark Rutte will attend the opening of the National Liberation Day Celebration a day later in Groningen

It is important that residents be alert to threats, but do not become paranoid, Rotterdam mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said at a meeting for residents of Rotterdam-West on Tuesday evening. The meeting was arranged to inform residents on the state of affairs following the arrest of 4 terrorist suspects in the neighborhood on Sunday.

Football lawyer Frank van Ardenne is advising the 326 Feyenoord supporters arrested before the match against Roda JC in Rotterdam on Sunday, not to pay the fines imposed on them. "He who pays the fine pleads guilty and gets a criminal record", the lawyer said

Amsterdam does not need to attract more tourists, the city is already busy all the time, according to Mayor Eberhard van der Laan. He is calling on the other big cities in the Netherlands to take in more tourists and to relieve the pressure on the capital. He would like it if a tourist visits Amsterdam, but overnights in Rotterdam. "That may well be our salvation", he said in an interview with Het Parool on Wednesday.