Counter-terrorism coordinator is concerned about normalization of right-wing extremism in the Netherlands

Protesters walk through the center of Amsterdam on Sunday, during a demonstration against cabinet policy. The conspiracy theorist David Icke, depicted on the mask, was supposed to speak during the demonstration, but was not allowed to enter the country.Image Joris van Gennip / de Volkskrant

Not for the first time, the NCTV calls an attack by right-wing extremists ‘imaginable’. The institute is concerned about how ideas such as the ‘population theory’ are becoming normalized in society. This theory, which stems from Nazi Germany in the 1930s, states that the Western population is slowly being replaced by immigrants from non-Western backgrounds. In May, the extreme right-wing Flemish politician Filip Dewinter vented him to the public broadcaster Ongehoord Nederland. This led to criticism from the House of Representatives.

“A movement is emerging marked by deep hostility, fanaticism and fantasies of violent vigilance,” the NCTV writes in its report released Monday. Threat Assessment Netherlands Terrorism, which is published three times a year. Tens of thousands of active followers and a hundred thousand ad hoc supporters are said to have a fundamental distrust of the Dutch legal order, politics, media and science. This makes them susceptible to conspiracy theories, according to the institute.

Incidentally, only a small group of twenty people would initiate the incitement. They have a few hundred supporters with right-wing terrorist ideas. Their numbers don’t seem to have grown since last year and they are very active on the internet. “Outside the internet, right-wing terrorism is less common than originally believed,” the report said.

According to the NCTV, there are currently no concrete indications of a terrorist attack, although the institute does call it ‘imaginable’. Although the report mainly focuses on right-wing extremism, jihadism still poses the greatest risk. That movement does show ‘stagnation’ and ‘relative inactivity’, according to the report.

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