Posted on 01/21/2005 8:01:40 PM PST by nypokerface
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The death of a man with Moroccan roots who was run over by a woman after he stole her bag has inflamed Dutch racial tensions that have smouldered since the murder of a filmmaker critical of Islam.
Several hundred people, including many Moroccans, marched on Friday from the site in an immigrant neighbourhood in Amsterdam where the 19-year-old died on Monday. The woman whose bag he stole drove her car into his moped, crushing him against a tree.
The friends and family of the youth, named by the media as Ali El Bejjati, say his death was a racially motivated murder. Two months ago, filmmaker Theo van Gogh was killed in the same district, allegedly by a 26-year-old Dutch-Moroccan.
The story has been front-page news all week in the Netherlands, home to about one million Muslims, more than a quarter of Moroccan descent. De Telegraaf daily said on Friday it was the man's own fault.
Geert Wilders, an anti-immigration politician whose popularity has soared since Van Gogh was murdered, called for the government to strip criminals with dual citizenship of their Dutch nationality.
"Arresting the woman makes the victim the criminal and the criminal a victim. It's turning the world on its head," he said.
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende was forced on Friday to defend Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, who said the woman had not committed murder and the death would never have happened if the youth had not stolen the bag. A placard reading "Verdonk, murderess" was placed at the site of the death.
Van Gogh's murder on November 2 triggered a series of attacks on mosques and churches and a wave of death threats against politicians, including Verdonk and Wilders, shattering the Netherlands' reputation for tolerance.
The woman, who prosecutors want to charge for manslaughter, was released on Thursday pending further investigations.
Hey, Muslims - maybe you shouldn't be stealing bags? </crunch>
Good for her. He won't steal and assault women again.
Why am I laughing hysterically at this!
From the sounds of it, this woman's life will now be in jeopardy anywhere and at anytime. She should think like Salman Rushdie and go into some kind of protective custody for the next twenty years.
Don't bring a moped to a car fight.
There's only one course left for the noble one million Muslims stealing bags living in the Netherlands. They must return to their Muslim homelands, which are such beautiful examples of dar-al-Islam. The fact that Muslims are constantly trying to get out of their Muslim hell holes, yet bringing the religion that created them is beside the point, of course.
So true, but it still is going to be a frightening time for that woman. She has to live among people sympathetic to the bag thief, who disagree with the government official and who have a history of revenge. Her best option is to seek a high level of protection.
LOL - thanks for the chuckle.
LOLOL
The Tolerant Dutch best tend to their overtolerant Government, or they will cease to exist!
"If ever a protestor sat in front of my car, it would be the last car he ever saw." --- George Wallace
Why, oh why, didn't the Dutch take this opportunity to round them up & send them back?
If it had happened in NYC the Times would be questioning the motives of the woman and interviewing the "victims" neighbors, who would speak of his kindness.
I wonder if the purse grabbing moped was crushed by a SUV.
One less Mud slime, what's the problem?
It's the Greens fault
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