The anniversary of the attack prompted foreign journalists to check on the multicultural tensions and Muslim radicalisation in the Dutch capital. The Netherlands' immigration issues have remained high on the agenda, fuelled by populist politician Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV). But no attacks, home grown or from outside, have taken place since November 2, 2004.(It's kind of bizarre that this Dutch news site [NRC Handelsblad] doesn't use the killer's name, since he is in the slammer and is not entitled to any deference.)That was the morning Mohammed B. followed Theo van Gogh on his bicycle before he shot him eight times with a handgun. The 47-year-old filmmaker fell to the ground, where his assassin slit his throat and pinned a note to his body with a knife. The note was a death threat to Ayaan Hirsi Ali with whom Van Gogh had made the short film Submission, about the abuse of women under Islam, and called for jihad.
B., son of Moroccan immigrants, was born and raised in Amsterdam. "The turnaround in his behaviour happened in this building", Achmed Marcouch told reporters on a tour of the Amsterdam immigrant neighbourhood Slotervaart last week. Marcouch has been Slotervaart's borough chairman since 2006 and the building he showed the journalists was the community centre Eigenwijks, where B. was a volunteer. He is now serving a life sentence for the murder. [Immigrant tensions remain five years after Van Gogh killing 11/02/09]
At a time when Lou Dobbs reports a shot fired at his home, the physical security of people who insist that immigration be legal remains a matter for concern.
The Dutch Defence League put up this video remembering Van Gogh a couple days ago.
