CULEMBORG, 06/01/10 - The riots between Moluccans and Moroccans in Culembourg municipality are threatening to grow into a national conflagration, according to De Telegraaf newspaper.
Moroccans and Moluccans from other parts of the Netherlands have indicated they will come to the Terweijde district in Culemborg to support their own group and to be ready for a possible pitched battle. Groups of other backgrounds, such as football hooligans, are also challenging each other on the Internet to a confrontation in the relatively small municipality, according to the newspaper.
While clashes have broken out now and again between the two ethnic groups in Culembourg for years, the flames appear to be hard to quench since five Moroccan youths drove into a 15 year old Moluccan girl, Shoela Coenmans, in a car at the turn of the year. She apparently reported to the police two days earlier seeing a Moroccan youth setting a car on fire.
A number of streets have been barricaded off with concrete enclosures. These are intended to prevent fresh 'troops' of both camps from entering from outside the village. "Stay out of Terweijde!" warned Mayor Roland van Schelvenmaandagavond in an emotional plea.
Within the district, a ban on assemblies of four or more persons is in force for the next two weeks. Van Schelven is not having any arrests made for now. But he is calling on parents to keep the rioting youngsters off the streets.
The police did make 14 arrests in Culemborg last week, including the five Moroccans that were in the car. Of these, only the driver is still in custody. Two men arrested for serious assault are also still locked up.
Home Affairs Minister Ter Horst hopes to solve the problems by appointing three social workers. She made a subsidy of 150,000 euros available yesterday for these 'street coaches.' The intention is for both ethnic communities to choose the street coaches themselves from their midst.
The Moluccan residents have no confidence in Ter Horst and the mayor. They are maintaining a 10-man neighbourhood watch in the district themselves. At the end of last year, a 'flying brigade' of sociologists had already been sent to the municipality.
