extremism

The knowledge platform on integration and society KIS is looking into launching new studies into racism in the Netherlands. According to project leader Hanneke Felten, new research is desperately needed because there is currently virtually no scientifically based information on how to combat open racism, while this is a growing phenomenon. "Science focuses primarily on more subtle, unconscious prejudices, less on extreme, open racism", she said to newspaper AD.

Agricultural organization LTO Nederland and the producer organization for pig farmers POV are planning to take action against animal rights organization. They will help farmers in filing charges against wat they call "animal extremism", De Gelderlander reports.

Right-wing extremists in the Netherlands are increasingly vocal about encouraging and glorifying violence against Muslims and the government in particular, intelligence service AIVD said in a new publication. While this group seldom resorts to physical violence, the AIVD is concerned about the climate arising in the Netherlands, NU.nl reports. 

In half of the municipalities in the Netherlands, nothing is being done to prevent radicalization and jihadism, according to a study by the Security and Justice Inspectorate. Small and medium-sized municipalities in particular ignore this task, RTL Nieuws reports.

About 300 Muslim and non-Muslim people gathered in the Al Kabir mosque in Amsterdam on Sunday afternoon to show support to the Muslim community in the city. The organizers wanted to to show a counterpoint to the "hateful stories" spreading about the Islamic community, NOS reports.

"We want to show Muslims that they are not alone", Abdou Menebhi of the Collective Against Islamophobia said to NOS. "Politicians, stop saying things like 'the Netherlands is threatened by Islam'. The Netherlands is threatened by extremists from all sides."

The terrorism threat level in the Netherlands remains unchanged, according to the National Coordinator for Terrorism and Security Dick Schoof in his periodic Terrorist Threat Assessment Netherlands. There is still a "real" chance of a terrorist attack in the Netherlands, but no concrete evidence that an attack is planned

People in the Netherlands reported 4,092 cases of racism, extremism and anti-Semitism to the police in all of 2014, an increase of 26 percent compared to a year earlier. Though total incidents fell by over four percent, racial abuse cases jumped by 26 percent to 2,764.

Unless the migrant crisis in Europe is addressed properly, there could be a surge of right-wing extremism across the continent, said Frans Timmermans, the First Vice-President of the European Commission. Speaking on BBC Radio, the former Dutch foreign affairs minister added that people who do not have a rightful claim to asylum should be swiftly deported.

Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb says he has more authority to make bold statements compelling extremist Muslims to get out of the country than do his European colleagues. The Moroccan-born Dutch Mayor said this in an interview with CNN, after speaking in Washington, D.C., about the role of local governments in battling radicalization and extremism.

The Cabinet's new policy to enforce stricter measures against the threat of jihadism amongst Dutch nationals is not supported by some Muslim organizations, who argue that the Cabinet is going to target all Muslims rather than a select group, the Algemeen Dagblad reports.

Key figures in Dutch muslim communities will be encouraged by the Cabinet to do more to prevent radicalization among youths. In a renewed effort by the Cabinet to tackle extremism, Imams breeding hate will also be reprimanded more harshly.