About 60 people who had their blood sugar levels tested at
the GGD (Municipal Health Service) in Amsterdam city center may have been
infected with HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C. "It is a very small
chance", GGD spokesperson stressed, but the chance exists. The Healthcare
Inspectorate also launched an investigation.
Dutch-Turkish Christian Democrat municipal councilor in
Rotterdam Turan Yazir is taking a leave of absence from his faction due to
threats. Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah has published Yazir's full name and a
photo and called him partly responsible for the political fallout between the
Netherlands and Turkey. His faction declared that the tensions in the Turkish
community in Rotterdam have such an impact that it is impossible for Yazir to
duly exercise his duties as councilor. The Turkish newspaper calls Yazir a
politician that works with "fascists in the Netherlands, like Geert
Wilders".
A group of Dutch inhabitants of Istanbul were supposed to meet
at the Dutch consulate to view the results of the elections. The Consul General advised those who were
expected to come to instead watch the results individually at home. One of the
employees said that there are difficulties with the security even though the
number of Turkish demonstrators at the Consulate has decreased significantly.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the
Netherlands of massacring of 8000 Bosninas in Srebrenica. He said so in a speech
televised live. In fact it were however Bosnian Serbs who carried out the mass murder.
The Dutch peace keepers failed to protect the Bosnian Muslims and fled Srebrenica.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that Erdogan’s remarks were a “repugnant historical
falsehood.”
Turkey’s family minister, Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya, was
prevented from reaching the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam and was taken to the
German border by police and expelled from the Netherlands. She was trying to win support among expatriates
for a referendum on expanding Turkish presidential powers. The Dutch government
forbade such rallies as they would stoke tensions before the Dutch general
parliamentary elections on Wednesday. Afterwards, Dutch-Turkish demonstrators
started riots. The police used officers on horseback and water cannons to
disperse about 1,000 people from outside the Turkish consulate. There were some
wounded and several arrests were made.
The Netherlands has refused to give permission to the plane
of the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavosuglu to land. He intended to speak
in Rotterdam today in support of a referendum which will give President Erdogan
more powers. The rally was cancelled by the Dutch authorities for security reasons.
Cavosuglu had warned that Turkey would impose heavy sanctions if his visit were
blocked. Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan has now described the Dutch as “Nazi
remnants and fascists.”
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte could hardly speak at the talk
show of Pauw and Jinek. Residents of the Groningen province shouted and booed
him. One of his opponents said that 76 000 damage reports have been made during
his prime ministership concerning gas exploiation in the province.
Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has
said that with the resistance against campaign meetings by Turkish politicians
in the Netherlands, the country has been taken hostage by Geert Wilders. The
Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the meantime, has put in an official
request to be able to run its election campaign in the Netherlands among Turks
living there. The Dutch government has immediately rejected this.
Mohammed B., the radical Muslim who murdered media person Theo van Gogh in 2004, serves a life sentence in the high security prison in Vught. He has entirely destroyed
a kitchen there. He did so after a request of his to speak to the prison manager was refused.
After problems with his regular security team, Geert Wilders
is now protected by the Special Security Assignments Brigade. This military
police unit is normally in charge of securing Dutch Embassies in countries such
as Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as protecting Dutch officials and politicians
when they travel abroad. Wilders cancelled all public appearances after a
police officer on his regular protection team had been accused of leaking
police information to a Moroccan criminal gang.
