Den Bosch mayor Jack Mikkers wants to publicly apologize for statements he made about Moroccans. He did this during a meeting about asylum reception in Den Bosch-Zuid. The question is whether he will also get the chance to apologize: “We still have to talk about that. Now anger dominates.”
Mikkers made the statements this week during a residents’ meeting about the arrival of two reception centers for asylum seekers. The media was not welcome here, but a visitor made recordings with his phone.
‘Worst in the whole world’
The footage shows a woman railing against asylum seekers from Syria. “Those are the worst there are, the worst in the whole world,” she says. She then indicates that, in her opinion, people who need help should receive it.
“But Syrians don’t need help,” she continues. “Everything that happens: Syria is at the top.” Mayor Mikkers responds to this with the words “That is not true, that is Morocco.”
Geert Wilders
The statement leads to hilarity in the room, many people burst out laughing. “Geert Wilders also said something like that!” someone shouts at the mayor, referring to the PVV leader’s ‘fewer Moroccans’ statement.
Jack Mikkers looks resigned and shrugs his shoulders, as can be seen in the images. “There, that’s what it says,” says the man handling the camera.
Apologies
It is unclear exactly what Mikkers was trying to say. The municipality of Den Bosch says it will provide a response at a press conference later today. There was reason enough for the mayor to call Achmed Erassan of the Moroccan Arrahma mosque.
Erassan informed Omroep Brabant that Mikkers did not explain his statement further. “He apologized, but did not explain how and what.” According to Erassan, this is not necessary, because he believes the images speak for themselves: “It cannot be explained, you are dragging an entire community through the mud. What I have seen is one minute of rubbish.”
Addressing the community
The story of the mosque administrator shows that the mayor has gone through deep trouble. “He said: I should never have done this, and he wants to stand before the Moroccan community to apologize.” Erassan doesn’t know yet whether that will happen. “We still have to talk about that, now anger is dominant.”
However, he believes that any apologies should really be public, so not only for the Moroccan community. “The video is public, so the apologies should be too,” he says.
The video in question, shared on social media:
‘Elicit’
How is it possible that the mayor, Erassan, had contact with him more often and calls him by his first name, says something like that? “It is always someone who says he is looking for connection, but I don’t see that here. Some people say: he has taken off his mask.” Erassan doesn’t want to go that far. “I can’t see into his head.”
He does think that Mikkers may have allowed the statement to be provoked by the group of angry residents of Den Bosch in the room. “I’m very sorry that he let this slip, or elicited it, it doesn’t matter. We are stunned and angry. This just hurts.”
‘Not the first time‘
Will the relationship between the mayor and the Moroccan community ever improve? Erassan doesn’t dare say it. “Things have happened before, the relationship has already been cemented,” he says.