Huge claim by travelers against Dutch Railways (NS)

The ConsumentenClaim organization wants to bring a collective lawsuit against the Dutch railways (NS) on behalf of 9,500 travelers, for inconveniences suffered by passengers due to overfull trains.  The amount demanded is 5.7 million Euro.  Stef Smit, director of ConsumentenClaim, says that on average these travelers have suffered from inconveniences in the value of almost 600 Euro.  He claims that the NS should reimburse these travelers at least half of their ticket expenses.  NS denies the claim because it says that travelers did not buy guaranteed seats. 

http://www.volkskrant.nl/economie/miljoenenclaim-tegen-ns-om-overvolle-treinen~a4251650/

Seven percent of police personnel on sick leave

Sick leave among the police is exceptionally high.  In 2015, on average, seven percent of police personnel were sick at home, as against less than four percent for other sectors of the population.  Those sick are both police staffers and administrative personnel.  On average, 4,500-4,600 people are out on sick leave every day.  The Association of Police Employees has asked the new head of the national police force, Erik Akerboom, to undertake an independent investigation of the problem.

www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/7-procent-van-het-politiepersoneel-zit-ziek-thuis~a4255206/

Chief Prosecutor takes on extreme violence in Rotterdam

Marc van Nimwegen, Chief Prosecutor of Justice, has ordered a major investigation into the origins of the explosion of violence in Rotterdam.  He says that one has to deal with the supply of weapons.  He pointed out that it is frighteningly easy to acquire weapons and use them.  Rotterdam has been the scene of many shooting incidents, most of which are drug-related.

http://regio.tpo.nl/2016/03/03/hoofdofficier-wil-tsunami-van-geweld-in-rotterdam-aanpakken/

600,000 Dutch citizens are long-term poor

Long-term poverty is a much bigger problem than usually thought.  A new report commissioned by the Social and Cultural Planning Bureau (SCP) has found that almost 600,000 Dutch citizens have been living below the poverty line for three years or more, almost twice as many as previously found in earlier studies.  It turns out that about half of those living below the poverty line in the Netherlands may be defined as belonging to the long-term poor.  In 2013 the number of poor in the Netherlands was 1.25 million. 

http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/5597/Economie/article/detail/4254308/2016/03/01/Veel-Nederlanders-zijn-langdurig-arm.dhtml

Deputy Minister: Thirty suspected war criminals entered the Netherlands in 2015

Deputy Minister Klaas Dijkhoff has written to parliament that at least thirty asylum seekers who entered the Netherlands in 2015 are suspected of war crimes. Ten of these arrived from Syria, the others from Eritrea, Nigeria, Sudan and Georgia.  Dijkhoff says that about the same number arrived in 2014.  Such asylum seekers have no right to asylum status. However, they also cannot be expelled as that transgresses international treaties. They cannot be jailed if there is not enough proof to prosecute them.  Most war crime suspects currently in the Netherlands are Afghans.

www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4492/Nederland/article/detail/4253848/2016/02/29/30-van-oorlogsmisdaden-verdachte-asielzoekers-in-Nederland-in-2015.dhtml

ISIS Executes Eight Dutch Jihadis

Last Friday, eight Dutch Jihadis were executed by ISIS in the Syrian town of Ma’dan.  This was reported by the underground RBSS network.  They apparently were murdered after a conflict with the ISIS internal security service.  Furthermore, according to the Dutch Arabist Jan Jaap de Ruiter, an entire Dutch ISIS brigade of 75 people has been imprisoned because of this conflict.  They are being held in prisons in Raqqa and Ma’dan.

http://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/syrische-activisten-melden-executie-acht-nederlandse-strijders-syrie~a4254112/

How Dutch Railways Benefitted from Transport of Jews During the Holocaust

A TV program, based on a document in the US national archive, exposed that the Dutch railways earned 2.5 million euro in current monetary equivalent for transporting 100,000 Jews during the Second World War, 95% of whom were exterminated.  During the war, 93 Dutch trains brought Jews to the Dutch transit camp in Westerboerk, and from there transported the Jews to the Dutch border, where the trains were taken over by the Germans.  In 2005, the Dutch railways offered apologies for their role in the war, but have not to date offered compensation for the victims.

www.nu.nl/binnenland/3980659/ns-verdiende-25-miljoen-euro-transport-van-joden-tijdens-woii.html