2 November 2004

AMSTERDAM — Immigrant groups in the Netherlands have forthrightly condemned the assassination of filmmaker and columnist Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam on Tuesday morning.

The Municipal Moroccan Council (SMR) said the "cowardly murder" must not lead to a worsening of relations between Muslims and other residents in Amsterdam. The SMR also described Van Gogh's murder as "despicable".

The SMR said organisations had to do everything to ensure tensions did not escalate in the city now that it was known the suspected killer has both Dutch and Moroccan nationality.  

SMR chairman Abdou Menebhi said he hoped the Moroccan community would not suffer a backlash because of the killing. "Escalation is in nobody's interest," he said.

"We call on all Amsterdammers to keep a cool head to come to terms with this murder in a calm manner and to bid farewell to Van Gogh in a dignified fashion," Menebhi said.

Ayhan Tonca of the Turkish Cultural Federation said no motive could justify the killing and that everyone must condemn it. But he cautioned that the identity of the perpetrator had yet to be properly established.

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Dutch news