Sharp rise in racist incidents in the Netherlands
The number of racist incidents reported in the Netherlands has increased by 26% in a year, research for the Anne Frank House has found.
In 2014 there were 2,764 incidents with a racist nature, compared to 2,189 in the previous year. Researchers said racist violence was often an escalation of incidents such as road rage.
‘Many of these incidents seem to have a connection with the heavily polarised discussions in the Netherlands around issues such as Zwarte Piet and Islam,’ the Telegraaf reports a spokesman as saying.
Anti-Semitic incidents also increased from 61 to 76, a trend the organisation linked to the Israeli military’s Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in the summer of 2014.
The research was carried out by the Verwey-Jonker Institute on behalf of the Anne Frank House.
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