Protests against the influx of Muslim “migrants” are now becoming widespread across the continent. The latest:
Dutch police fired warning shots to disperse a protest over plans to house asylum-seekers in the small town of Geldermalsen. Unrest broke up a town meeting to discuss asylum housing. Riot police in Geldermalsen fought bottle-throwing youths into the early hours of Thursday and made “numerous arrests.” No serious injuries were reported.
Dutch national broadcaster NOS, said around 2,000 people joined the protest in the town of 27,000 near Utrecht.
A meeting of the town’s council to decide whether to construct housing for 1,500 asylum seekers was halted midway through after rioters forced their way into the chambers. Police evacuated the building and Geldermalsen Mayor Miranda de Vries wrote on Twitter that she had escaped the violence safely.
“There will be no more meetings,” de Vries wrote.
Thousands of refugees have entered the Netherlands this year as part of the massive influx of people arriving in Europe. But their arrival has caused a xenophobic backlash that’s playing out in national politics and on the streets in the Netherlands as well as other European countries.
“Xenophobic” means fear of strangers. Nearly six percent of the small country’s population is Muslim; the Dutch, having once colonized Indonesia, are no strangers to Islam, and have been suffering from terrorism for longer than almost any other country in Europe. They have little desire to go through that again — which is why Geert Wilders was just named Politician of the Year.
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