Netherlands: Moroccan women attacked

Netherlands: Moroccan women attacked


At least six women of Moroccan origin were attacked by Arab-speaking men in Hoge Vucht, Breda (the Netherlands) in recent weeks.  The wave of violence is causing a lot of concern in the Moroccan community.

According to Driss Siraji of the Werkgroep Allochtone Ouderen Breda (Immigrant Elderly workgroup in Breda) those are groups of at least two men who approach the women in the Moerwijk shopping center or the vicinity.

"They turn to the victim in Arabic with an excuse: "Do you know where the mosque is?".  Once they get talking, the perpetrators pull out a knife and force the women to take out money," says Siraji.

In some cases the perpetrators came to the women at home.

Siraji says that the men seem to know their victim's financial status.

"They sometimes know precisely how much money people have at home.  A woman that said that they only had 300 euro at home was threatened for so long, that in the end she had to hand over 1300 euro".

Besides being robbed of their money, those involved say that Moroccan women were beaten up in Hoge Vucht.

The Breda police says that one specific case was reported, but they don't know of other attacks.

Police spokesperson Inge Rijgersberg says that the magistrate doesn't know anything about it.  One attack on March 11th was reported, where a woman was forced to turn over her money on the Antwerpenstraat under knife threats.

The police spokesperson says it's difficult to get an overview of the situation if the victims don't report the attacks.

Other people from the Moroccan community in Breda-Noord say that in the past week another elderly lady became a victim of the unknown perpetrators.

Source: BN/De Stem (Dutch)

No comments: