Things go wrong in Loosdrecht on Tuesday evening when men, some wearing black hoodies with the text ‘Defend Loosdrecht’ on them, light torches and throw them in the direction of the building for the asylum seekers’ center. A first group of fifteen asylum seekers arrived there on Tuesday. The bushes in front of the building catch fire and then arriving fire trucks are blocked by demonstrators.
In the House of Representatives, Minister Bart van den Brink (Asylum and Migration, CDA) announced in the afternoon that the AIVD intelligence service will be called in to investigate whether there is “organized violence” in the anti-azc protests. Van den Brink: “We fully deploy the rule of law to prosecute people who contributed to this and we are investigating with the AIVD into what possible patterns are behind this.”
In any case, it is clear that not only local residents are present in Loosdrecht in the evening. The police arrest a 28-year-old man from Huizen on suspicion of arson, a minor from nearby Kortenhoef on suspicion of public violence against a journalist and a minor from Amersfoort for throwing torches and stones.
Earlier, at the end of April and the beginning of May, men from Hilversum and Ermelo were convicted for throwing a torch in Loosdrecht and smashing the windows of the partly vacant town hall, where the shelter takes place, respectively.
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Defend Netherlands
Various far-right action groups appear to contribute to the coordination of protests in the background. They are also a source of inspiration for the creation of local protest groups. They easily get people on their feet. Many local residents do not like the reception of asylum seekers if it has to take place in their own living environment. And especially when it comes to single men. “Then it really comes very close,” said local resident Bart on Tuesday evening NRC. He referred to the letter he received from the municipality a few weeks ago about the shelter for 110 single men in the partly vacant town hall in Loosdrecht.
To what extent is this a case of organized violence? The local demonstrators in Loosdrecht have recently been assisted by members of extreme right-wing action groups such as Voorpost and Defend Netherlands. The same applies to protests in other places in the country. It was Tuesday evening too fidgety in The Hague and Apeldoorn.
Prominent corona demonstrator Eldor van Feggelen, convicted in 2017 for membership of a criminal organization, joins Defend Netherlands
Defend Netherlands was founded last summer by Jordy Huisman and Dean Ursinus. At the beginning of last year, these men featured in broadcasts from Ongehoord Nederland, about a housing conflict with the municipality of Eemnes. In it, the impending eviction of the two, due to illegal occupancy, is linked to the reception of asylum seekers in the municipality. At the end of August, after the murder of seventeen-year-old Lisa in Abcoude by a suspect who was staying in an asylum seeker center, the two turn up in a broadcast of Powned as the organizers of a demonstration in Amersfoort of ‘Defend Netherlands’ against asylum policy.
The prominent corona demonstrator Eldor van Feggelen later closed in 2017 convicted due to membership of a criminal organization, joins Defend Netherlands. Van Feggelen, a Feyenoord supporter, led a group of hundreds of football hooligans during the out-of-control asylum protest in The Hague last September. They walk in procession from the Kloosterkerk to the Malieveld. Van Feggelen leads the way with a banner from Defend Netherlands.
Even before this national protest on the Malieveld, but certainly after it, more and more local Defend groups are being founded. It is a kind of franchise model, in which the local group adopts the incendiary online visual language of the national Defend Netherlands. Since May 1, a ‘Defend Loosdrecht’ can also be found on Facebook. The page has more than a thousand followers. According to the anti-fascist research group Kafka, members of Defend Loosdrecht also recently took part in an anti-azc protest in Uithoorn.
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The riots at Loosdrecht are part of an international movement
Dutch People’s Union
“The battle has begun,” appears on the Facebook page of the local Defend group in Loosdrecht on Tuesday afternoon. Among the rioters in the evening were also national leaders of Defend Netherlands, including Van Feggelen. He speaks in a report by Ongehoord Nederland. “The population is getting angrier,” he says, with a Dutch flag pulled over his mouth and nose.
From messages in the Defend Netherlands Telegram group last December, the neo-Nazi Dutch People’s Union of leader Constant Kusters also appears to play a role in the background. If someone is looking for a lawyer, an activist from Defend Netherlands suggests approaching Michiel Bos of the NVU or Kusters himself. “They can help you further.” The NVU also organized a protest against asylum seekers in Arnhem last March.
App traffic that Van Feggelen himself has put online shows that in the run-up to the announced anti-azc protest in Ter Apel last Saturday, consultations took place between the leaders of Defend Netherlands and Identitair Verzet. This group constitutes according to the NGO Justice for Prosperityfrom former AIVD member Jelle Postma, the Dutch branch of an international far-right network. According to Postma, the network deliberately positions itself around local protests against asylum reception. Defend Netherlands ultimately decided not to participate in the protest in Ter Apel.
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The demonstration against asylum seekers in Ter Apel became a demonstration for asylum seekers
