TV presenter takes action over ‘surge of racist comments’

Sylvana Simons. Photo: Denk
Sylvana Simons. Photo: Denk

Television presenter turned political hopeful Sylvana Simons said on Tuesday she would make a formal police complaint about the ‘surge of racist, sexist and discriminatory reactions’ her decision to go into politics had generated.

By making a complaint it would make clear that ‘demonstrable injustice should never go unpunished’, political party Denk, which Simons joined earlier this month, said in a statement.

‘It is time that the social discussion about racism took place in the political arena,’ Simons told reporters. ‘Combating injustice begins with registering it.’

The public prosecution department said last week it was looking into the comments directed at Simons to see if they were punishable by law.

After going public with her decision to join Denk, Simons was dismissed on social media as a ‘Netherlander hater’, a ‘whingeing negro’ and an ‘Erdogan helpmate’.

One PVV supporter also launched a Facebook campaign to have her ‘waved out’ of the Netherlands on December 6, alongside Sinterklaas.

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