THE HAGUE, 23/09/08 - A police officer was knifed this weekend in Gouda. As well, journalists continue to be attacked. But the municipality continues to claim that all is quiet.

Gouda hit the national news when drivers of bus company Connexxion went on strike last week. They refused to drive through the Oosterwei district any more because they say they are continually threatened and robbed there by Moroccan youths.

After the mayor announced the equipping of the buses with cameras, the drivers resumed their service reluctantly. On the very same evening, a TV crew was robbed and assaulted. The municipality then decided to ask the media not to come to Gouda any more.

Last Friday, Labour (PvdA) Mayor Wim Cornelis announced that calm had returned to his town. But last weekend, a 19 year old police officer in training was knifed. The knifing took place in Achterwillens district, near Oosterwei.

The officer was off-duty and in civilian clothes. He was slightly wounded in the knifing but has since returned home. Police arrested a suspect on Sunday evening. But in consultation with the Public Prosecutor's Office, he has already been released. The authorities are refusing to say whether the suspect is a Moroccan.

Raja Felgata, presenter of TV programme Goedemorgen Nederland was robbed in Oosterwei when she wanted to see with her own eyes how things were going in the district, De Telegraaf newspaper reported yesterday. Felgata is in fact herself Moroccan.

In Korte Akkeren, another district in Gouda, a graffiti text was sprayed declaring 'Geert Wilders will die: 1 December.' Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV), recently proposed withdrawing Dutch soldiers from Afghanistan and deploying them in Gouda.

Gouda council continues to claim that it is all a matter of small incidents. "It is very unpleasant of course, but a knifing is too big a word," said a spokesman for the police on the knifing of his colleague. "The knife only caught his buttock."