While the overall number of racially motivated attacks fell by 10% last year, extreme right-wing violence saw a 75% increase compared to 2005, reports Wednesday’s Volkskrant.

The figures come from the annual Racism and Extremism Monitor published by the Anne Frank Foundation and Leiden University today. Some 67 incidents of extreme right-wing violence were reported last year, up from 38 in 2005.
According to this report, racist and extreme right-wing violence are often, but not always, linked. This means that an attack is carried out by individuals with connections to extreme right-wing groups rather than in the name of the organisation itself.
The monitor also reports that the number of informal extreme right-wing organisations and their popularity has increased while registered groups such as Nieuw Rechts and Nationale Alliantie are losing support.
Meanwhile in a Rotterdam court, 11 men aged 17 to 21 are currently facing jail terms of up to two and a half years for arson, vandalism and threatening behaviour emerging from ‘nationalist sympathies’, ANP news service reports on Wednesday.
Five of the men were allegedly involved in starting fires in a synagogue, an Islamic school and supermarket, and a squatted building.