Action group Kick Out Zwarte Piet (KOZP) will be taking action in at least four places against Black Petes during the arrival of Sinterklaas in the coming weeks.
For example, a demonstration has been announced in De Lier (South Holland) on Saturday, November 18. A day later, the activists will go to Drunen and Etten-Leur in Brabant and a protest is planned in Enter (Overijssel) on November 25.
Last week it was announced that KOZP will be working with the climate activists of Extinction Rebellion this year. They sent a letter to several dozen municipalities calling on them to stop having Black Petes at the arrival. The action groups already announced that municipalities that do not comply with the demand should ‘fear peaceful, civil disobedient actions’.
Contacted
According to KOZP leader Jerry Afriyie, several municipalities have contacted the action group in response to the letter. He does not yet want to say exactly how many there are. According to Afriyie, some municipalities have said they are switching to soot sweepers. “We are checking that now.”
The municipality of Westland, which includes De Lier, previously confirmed that it had received a letter from KOZP. Last week, Mayor Bouke Arends talked to the Sinterklaas committees in the municipality, which organize the parades. According to a spokeswoman, it was then agreed that the mayor would inform KOZP that he was prepared to organize a discussion between the action group and the committees.
Although, according to KOZP, many municipalities now have soot sweepers during the Sinterklaas arrival, there are still dozens of municipalities where the good saint’s helpers are still black. “We will work to eradicate Zwarte Piet in those places as well,” the action group writes.
KOZP wants Black Pete to disappear permanently in the year in which our country commemorates the past of slavery.
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