Denk

Nearly ten thousand people rallied in Amsterdam on Saturday calling for an end to racism and divisiveness in Dutch politics. The event began on Dam Square and then progressed to the monument on Daniël Meijerplein, but counter-protestors along the way were arrested for allegedly disturbing the peace.

The police arrested two men, aged 18 and 21, in Urk on Tuesday evening for involvement in an assault at a home in the Flevoland town on Monday night. Around a hundred young people gathered at the home on Monday. Tuesday night was again restless in Urk, with police officers doing checks and searches both inside and outside the town, a spokesperson said to NU.nl.

A large majority in the lower house of Dutch parliament supports the government's intention to sign the United Nations' new migration pact next week, was revealed in a debate on the matter on Tuesday. 

In addition to coalition parties VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie, the pact is also supported by GroenLinks, PvdA and DENK, NU.nl reports PVV, 50Plus, SGP and FvD are against the pact. They fear that migrants may derive new rights form the pact. PvdD and SP are still considering.

Former Prime Minister Wim Kok (PvdA) passed away after a long illness, his family revealed on Saturday. Over the weekend King Willem-Alexander and various politicians responded to his death. Kok was a well respected man to whom the Netherlands owes a great deal of gratitude, was the general theme of their reactions.

The VVD's proposal to punish law breakers in problem neighborhoods twice as harshly as someone from another neighborhood, led to sharp accusations during the first day of the General Political Considerations, the parliamentary debate on the government's budget and plans for next year, on Wednesday. 

Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs is facing the Tweede Kamer on Wednesday on statements he made about multicultural societies. He faced fierce criticism from the parliamentarians, including from coalition parties D66, CDA and ChristenUnie. Only populist parties PVV and FvD outright supported his remarks, NOS reports. 

The lower house of Dutch parliament is withholding almost 150 thousand euros this year on the money DENK receives to pay, for example, faction employees. The pro-diversity party received a double contribution last year and that is now being rectified, AD and NOS report.

Up until the parliamentary election in March last year, DENK founders Tunahan Kuzu and Selcuk Ozturk had parliamentary seats as the Kuzu/Ozturk Group. After the election, they fell under DENK.

A legislative proposal by PVV parliamentarians Sietse Fritsma and Machiel de Graaf to send criminal Antilleans back to Aruba, Curacao or Sint Maarten got no support from other parties in parliament. "This is not possible and we should also not want this", CDA parliamentarian Madeleine van Toorenburg said in a debate in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, NOS reports.

The final results for Amsterdam's municipal elections are in. GroenLinks is the biggest party in the city, with 10 city council seats. And four parties will enter the Amsterdam city council for the first time - newcomers DENK, Bij1 and FVD, and ChristenUnie, AT5 and Het Parool report.

The seats in Amsterdam's city council are divided as follows:

With just a week to go until the municipal elections, both the D66 and GroenLinks have a solid chance to become the biggest party in Amsterdam. Both parties currently stand at 17 percent of Amsterdam votes - good for 9 seats in the city council, according to a poll by Maurice de Hond of Peil.nl, Het Parool reports.

Nine seats is an increase of three seats for GroenLinks, and a loss of 5 seats for the D66.The party that comes out the biggest after the municipal election on March 21st can take the lead in forming a new coalition.

The leader of the Utrecht faction of anti-Islam party PVV surprised many by suggesting he hoped that a prominent mosque in the city would go up in flames. The comments brought immediate condemnation from politicians of several parties in the area.

Henk van Deún represented the PVV during a political talk radio show on a local channel. He was joined by the leader of Turkish and multicultural party Denk, Mahmut Sungur, who commented that he wanted to see the city's Ulu Mosque be recognized as a proud local landmark.