Amsterdam’s mayor shakes up strategy to deal with radicalisation

(Dutch News) Amsterdam’s new mayor Femke Halsema wants to take action against radical imams who do not break the law but are still “undesirable,” according to the city’s local paper the Parool.

In addition, Halsema wants an end to mosque financing from the Middle East, if aimed at increasing radicalisation. “It is unacceptable if Amsterdam’s citizens are being persuaded or forced to adopt certain beliefs by foreign governments with financial and political resources,” Halsema said in a briefing to the city council.

The briefing is the first indication of the new mayor’s approach to radicalisation, the paper points out. Her predecessor, acting mayor Jozias van Aartsen, had commissioned a report into how the city could work together with orthodox institutions but Halsema has now pulled the plug on that project.

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