More refugee centre riots as MPs debate right wing extremism

Riot police were drafted in to restore order after a demonstration outside a refugee centre in Hoofddorp near Amsterdam turned violent on Wednesday evening. In total, seven people were arrested.

Trouble broke out after a far-right campaigner set a copy of the Quran on fire during the protest and was attacked by counter-demonstrators, who also threw fireworks and stones at the police.

The incident is the latest in a string of clashes at asylum seekers’ centres across the country and comes in the wake of riots in The Hague on Saturday led by far-right groups.

On Tuesday, recently appointed justice minister Foort van Oosten was forced to admit that the riots in The Hague at the weekend were driven by far-right extremism after coming under sustained pressure from opposition MPs.

Intelligence service AIVD and anti-terrorism organisation NCTV had warned earlier that remarks by “charismatic” politicians about immigrants could provoke violence from extreme-right groups.

“We should all look in the mirror, including politicians,” AIVD chief Erik Akerboom told a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday.

“The violence of last Saturday must be qualified because then it can be tackled,” he told MPs. “95% of demonstrations are peaceful but this was extremist violence. That is not normal and we mustn’t think of it as normal, because the right to demonstrate is important.”

MPs are due to debate the weekend’s events on Thursday, but efforts to draw up a joint statement from all parties condemning Saturday’s violence as an attack on democracy have failed.

The plan, proposed by ChristenUnie MP Mirjam Bikker, was scuppered by left and centre parties, which said they did not wish to share a platform with the far-right PVV and FvD.

“A statement signed by PVV and FvD would lack credibility,” GroenLinks-PvdA said in a statement. “After years of incitement and pitting groups against each other, it is not enough to condemn right-wing political violence. What these parties should do is stop spreading ideas that lead to violence.”

The move prompted PVV leader Geert Wilders to accuse the parties of promoting polarisation.