Gouda’s police chief has attacked politicians ‘from left to right’ for blowing out of proportion a relatively small incident involving a group of youngsters with a Moroccan background.

In an interview with Friday’s Volkskrant, Jan Stikvoort say that ‘politicians are constantly talking about the integration of foreigners, but are themselves tearing society apart’.
Stikvoort was referring to a recent incident in Gouda which hit the national headlines when Connexxion suspended a bus service because of the agressive behaviour of a number of youths. The bus firm had reported just two cases of harrasment to the police, he said.
And he is furious that none of the political parties checked the facts with him before demanding hard measures against the local ‘Moroccans’.
‘No one asked me for the facts. MPs made assumptions about the case,’ the Volkskrant reported him as saying.
Stikvoort said the huge media focus on Gouda had upset locals and damaged the town’s reputation. Comparisons were being made between Gouda and the Paris suburbs. ‘That is ridiculous,’ he was quoted as saying.
White youths
‘We have more trouble with white youths from the countryside who snort and inject drugs and drink too much,’ he told the paper.
In a reaction, MPs from the anti-immigration PVV party said Stikvoort should be sacked.
And right wing Liberal MP Laetitia Griffiths, who had spoken of the Netherlands being in flames, said it was not the police chief’s job to criticise politicians. ‘He should be catching trouble-makers,’ the paper reported her as saying.
Socialist Party leader Agnes Kant said Stikvoort should not tar all politicians with the same brush.