Mayor Jack Mikkers of Den Bosch will not be attending the festivities in Oeteldonk for safety reasons. Several sources confirm this to Dtv News. The carnival season traditionally kicked off in Den Bosch on Saturday morning.
Mikkers’ absence is special, because in previous years he always appeared on the stage in the city center on the Eleventh of the Eleventh to address the carnival revelers. The municipality of ‘s-Hertogenbosch does not make any statements about possible additional security for the mayor, reports Dtv News.
A spokesperson for the municipality said on Friday that his absence was due to a ‘lack of time’. He does carry out his work as a safety coordinator.
Under fire
Mikkers is a topic of discussion in Den Bosch because of his Moroccan statement. He made the statement last week at a residents’ meeting about the arrival of two asylum seekers’ centers in Den Bosch-Zuid. In a video made by a visitor at the meeting, you can see how someone from the audience is critical of asylum seekers from Syria. “Those are the worst there are,” the woman says.
“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.”
The video was widely shared on social media and provoked a storm of criticism. A group of Moroccan Dutch people called for a report against Mikkers. Mosques in Den Bosch also announced in a statement that Mikkers is ‘not our mayor’. After his statement, he was deeply disturbed and immediately apologized.
Protest posters
More than twenty people filed a report because they believe that the mayor of Den Bosch has sown hatred. The action group Den Bosch Kan Het and the local branch of Extinction Rebellion also pasted protest posters on city hall on Thursday night.
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