TEENAGERS ARRESTED FOR ARSON ISLAMIC SCHOOL

Three teenagers of 14 and 15 years old have been arrested in the Dutch town Uden for fire-raising of a Muslim school that burned down directly after the murder on Theo van Gogh. According to the public prosecutor it seems that the youngsters do not have ties with any extreme-right group. The three are also suspected of being guilty of arson in a mosque in the same town. For this also three other teenagers are arrested. The mayor of Uden is happy that the youngsters do not have links to extremist groups, but is shocked by the young age of the suspects.

On the walls of the burned down Islamic school the symbols of the white power movement were found. The chance is quite small that the youngsters know the founder of the white power movement in the United States Georg Lincoln Rockwell, who was killed in 1967 by a dissatisfied ex-party member. In the same year the founder expressed his views by publishing his book ‘White Power'. White separatists, nationalists, radical Christians, neo-Nazi's and other believers in the church of the white supremacy: they all exist under the white power umbrella.

According to a specialist the white power slogan is especially popular under hard-core house fans – the so-called ‘Gabbers'. They wear clothing from the Lonsdale brand and have the white power symbol hanging around their neck or sewed on their bomber jackets. Research after the seize of the group extreme-right youngsters is never done in The Netherlands. But the specialist assumes that a few hundred youngsters cherish xenophobic ideas. Only a few of them commit assaults. The other or mostly followers, who know the white power symbols from the media.

The utterances of extreme right surface especially outside the big cities in the West of the Netherlands . In South-East Brabant , were most of the assaults were committed, the police did research after the white power youngsters. They counted 120 Lonsdale youngsters who declared to support extreme-right ideologies. According to the research also in this group most of the members are followers. more features

November 26, 2004