Flames Engulf Mosque in Netherlands
Correspondent:: König Prüß, GfbAEV
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2004 11:18:38 GMT
--------
washingtonpost.com
Flames Engulf Mosque in Netherlands
The Associated Press
Saturday, November 13, 2004; 2:38 AM
THE HAGUE Netherlands - Flames engulfed a mosque in southeastern
Netherlands early Saturday, the latest in a string of fires at Muslim
institutions since the killing of a Dutch filmmaker who was critical of
Islam.
A local broadcaster said the building, in the village of Helden near the
German border, was largely destroyed.
There was no immediate word on the cause.
There have been more than 20 incidents of fires or vandalism at Muslim
buildings - and a handful of retaliatory attacks on Christian churches -
since the Nov. 2 killing of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a suspected
Muslim radical.
Van Gogh, a distant relative of the famous painter, was shot and stabbed
to death while cycling on an Amsterdam street. A note pinned to his
chest with a knife threatened Islamic holy war, or Jihad, against
non-Muslims.
Van Gogh had angered many Muslims with his movie "Submission," which is
highly critical of the treatment of women under Islam.
© 2004 The Associated Press
Correspondent:: asscoassc@aol.comsucks (AssCo Assc)
Date: 13 Nov 2004 13:55:33 GMT
--------
Yeah, they actually managed to
burn down an Islamic school --
most of the 20 arsons were considerably
less successful.
I'd have to check the facts in detail
to be 100% sure, but I think one of
the schools that was singed had one
of those 2001 calendars that depicted
a plane that looked like a bird flying
into the NYC skyline.
Here's a good news source for NL:
http://tinyurl.com/6yg3w
At van Gogh's funeral they played one
of his favorite pieces of music,
Lou Reed's "Perfect Day":
Just a perfect day,
Drink Sangria in the park,
And then later, when it gets dark,
We go home.
Just a perfect day,
Feed animals in the zoo
Then later, a movie, too,
And then home.
Oh it's such a perfect day,
I'm glad I spent it with you.
Oh such a perfect day,
You just keep me hanging on,
You just keep me hanging on.
Just a perfect day,
Problems all left alone,
Weekenders on our own.
It's such fun.
Just a perfect day,
You made me forget myself.
I thought I was someone else,
Someone good.
Oh it's such a perfect day,
I'm glad I spent it with you.
Oh such a perfect day,
You just keep me hanging on,
You just keep me hanging on.
You're going to reap just what you sow,
You're going to reap just what you sow,
You're going to reap just what you sow,
You're going to reap just what you sow...
_________________________________________________
SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Smoking
Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease,
Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy.
_________________________________________________
Correspondent:: König Prüß, GfbAEV
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2004 14:24:48 GMT
--------
AssCo Assc wrote:
> Yeah, they actually managed to
> burn down an Islamic school --
> most of the 20 arsons were considerably
> less successful.
>
> I'd have to check the facts in detail
> to be 100% sure, but I think one of
> the schools that was singed had one
> of those 2001 calendars that depicted
> a plane that looked like a bird flying
> into the NYC skyline.
>
> Here's a good news source for NL:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/6yg3w
>
> At van Gogh's funeral they played one
> of his favorite pieces of music,
> Lou Reed's "Perfect Day":
>
> Just a perfect day,
> Drink Sangria in the park,
> And then later, when it gets dark,
> We go home.
> Just a perfect day,
> Feed animals in the zoo
> Then later, a movie, too,
> And then home.
>
> Oh it's such a perfect day,
> I'm glad I spent it with you.
> Oh such a perfect day,
> You just keep me hanging on,
> You just keep me hanging on.
>
> Just a perfect day,
> Problems all left alone,
> Weekenders on our own.
> It's such fun.
> Just a perfect day,
> You made me forget myself.
> I thought I was someone else,
> Someone good.
>
> Oh it's such a perfect day,
> I'm glad I spent it with you.
> Oh such a perfect day,
> You just keep me hanging on,
> You just keep me hanging on.
>
> You're going to reap just what you sow,
> You're going to reap just what you sow,
> You're going to reap just what you sow,
> You're going to reap just what you sow...
>
> _________________________________________________
>
> SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Smoking
> Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease,
> Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy.
> _________________________________________________
Yep, I think that the Muslims have a big public relations problem!
I mean after all, Dutch Muslims should be able to murder prominent
people with impunity. When they go to the Mosque, they have to take
off their wooden shoes, and park their tulips at the door.
washingtonpost.com
Dutch Muslims Fear Backlash From Murder
By ANTHONY DEUTSCH
The Associated Press
Friday, November 12, 2004; 11:53 PM
EINDHOVEN, Netherlands - The Muslim woman adjusted her head scarf and
gazed wearily at her daughters' elementary school Friday, one of many
Islamic sites attacked since a Muslim radical allegedly murdered a Dutch
filmmaker who criticized Islam.
An explosion earlier in the week not only shattered windows and doors -
it damaged the Muslim community's faith in the tolerance of their
neighbors.
One mother said the attack made her afraid. "I always thought the
Netherlands was the safest place in the whole world, but if you see all
that's happening, I don't know anymore," said the woman, who didn't want
to be quoted by name for fear of reprisals. "I didn't know what to tell
my daughter. She asked me: `Mommy, why us? All we did was go to
school.'"
In Amsterdam, meanwhile, Queen Beatrix made her first public appearance
since the slaying of Theo van Gogh and sought to assuage Muslims'
anxieties by reaching out to Islamic youths.
One woman who met the monarch, 26-year-old Naziha Daoudi, said she had
not felt safe on the streets since the Nov. 2 killing.
"We have to watch a lot of Dutch people watching us like we're
criminals," said Daoudi, who works at the Argan Moroccan youth center.
"The Dutch community doesn't know much about Islam. They think (Muslims)
are all the same."
The arrest of Muslim militant Mohammed Bouyeri, 26, as the main suspect
in the killing has been followed by what seems to be a cycle of
retaliation between Christian and Muslim extremists. A half-dozen arson
attacks on Muslim buildings were answered by fire bombings that caused
minor damage at churches in Rotterdam, Utrecht and Amersfoort.
After Monday's pre-dawn attack on the Islamic school in this sprawling
southern industrial city of 200,000 people, another Muslim school was
gutted by fire in the town of Uden. On Wednesday, Dutch youths brawled
with Turks and Moroccans in the first direct ethnic confrontation since
Van Gogh's murder.
For Muslims, the conservative government's reaction to the slaying has
been almost as disturbing as the violence: Officials have moved swiftly
to tighten controls on the nation's Islamic minority.
On Friday, parliament asked the government to draft legislation that
would compel Dutch mosques to employ only imams who have studied Islam
in the Netherlands. Legislators are also considering laws that would
enable the closure of mosques that spread non-Dutch values.
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende promised "a hard-line approach to
those who want to wreck" Dutch society. He also pledged more money to
combat terrorist groups, stricter monitoring of foreign funding for
Holland's roughly 500 mosques, and new government powers to revoke Dutch
nationality for terrorism suspects with dual citizenship.
As legislators met in The Hague, hundreds of neighbors, students and
parents of children who attend Eindhoven's damaged Tarieq Ibnu Zyad
Islamic school staged a protest against anti-Muslim violence.
"Because the killer is a Muslim from Morocco all Muslims are now being
blamed for the act of one person," said one father, who also feared
being quoted by name.
Wisam Akhzane, 11, nervously clung to a friend's jacket when talking
about the attack. "I hope everything gets better. I'm really sad and my
family is very worried about what's happening."
Ethnic tensions have become increasingly evident in recent years. About
6 percent of the Netherlands' 16 million people are Muslim, and the
proportion is around a third in major cities like Rotterdam, Amsterdam
and The Hague.
Van Gogh, whose movie "Submission" sharply criticized the treatment of
women under Islam and who aimed other criticisms at Muslim, was stabbed
and shot to death on an Amsterdam street. Authorities claim Bouyeri, a
Dutch-Moroccan charged in the killing, was part of a radical Muslim
network.
Anti-terror squads have made dozens of arrests in recent days, claiming
to have picked up members of an international terrorist network with
ties to the Van Gogh case. An Amsterdam court on Friday extended the
detention of five other alleged conspirators.
Officials also said Friday that a 43-year-old Syrian believed to be the
head of an Amsterdam terror cell had eluded arrest. The Syrian's name
was not released, but he was said to have stayed at Bouyeri's home and
led spiritual meetings there.
Younes Abiyaala, 21, of the Argan Moroccan youth center in Amsterdam,
said that every time a Moroccan is accused of a crime, he feels many
Dutch people blame all Moroccans.
"Personally, I'm tired that every time I have to give answers," he said.
"Please open your eyes ... We are one community and one people, and we
have to overcome this together."
---
Associated Press reporter Maria Lokshin in Amsterdam contributed to this
story.
© 2004 The Associated Press