There have been larger Islamist attacks in the West - such as the two buttaults on New York's World Trade Center and the Madrid train station plantings - but nothing has resembled the civil-war quality of the 15-hour standoff in The Hague, Holland, yesterday. Here is an account of what happened by Sebastian Rotella of the Los Angeles Times.
The confrontation in the Dutch city erupted about 2:45 a.m. when anti-terror police raided an apartment house in search of three muslim extremists in a crackdown on Islamic networks that was launched after the slaying last week of filmmaker Theo van Gogh. The Muslim suspects inside responded by hurling at least one hand grenade that wounded four police officers, two seriously, and barricading themselves in the apartment. They shouted at police: "We will decapitate you!"
The two were among more than 100 suspected militants who had been monitored for some time by police in the Netherlands. One of the suspects was a Dutch convert to Islam who had been detained last year and released, according to a law enforcement official. As the standoff dragged on, hundreds of well-armed police flooded the mainly Islamic neighborhood, evacuating a street and deploying armored vehicles. The airspace over the city was temporarily closed.
As dusk fell, special-weapons units stormed the building and captured the two suspects after firing shots that wounded the convert in the shoulder. But a careful search continued Wednesday night because police believed another suspect might be inside and were wary of booby traps.
Another suspect related to the investigation was arrested in the city of Utrecht. Four suspects also were arrested in Amsterdam and one in Amersfoort.
In the Netherlands the national flag is now banned on most schools. If a student wears the national flag of his own country he will be suspended or expelled from school.
The reason for this is that this provokes the immigrants (the muslims) and therefore it is considered discrimination if you wear your country's flag in your own country. Even people who have an bumpersticker whit the flag on their car are harbutted and called a facist by the Muslims. Most schools also ban certain clothing like the Lonsdale brand and combat boots with white or red laces. This is also concidered a sign of racism.
There are of course no restrictions for the immigrants on clothing
The Netherlands could have a new Pim Fortuyn on its hands, as outcast MP Geert Wilders called Tuesday for a five-year ban on people from Turkey and Morocco immigrating to the Netherlands. Wilders is also calling for an immediate ban on all non-western immigrants who want to join their families in the Netherlands.
He claims that problems with integration in the Netherlands are so "immense and acute" that action must be taken now. "
All attention must be focused on the immigrants who already live here," Wilders said.
The "right-wing conservative" said immigrants who have Dutch pbuttports should be deported and deprived of their Dutch citizenship if they are not prepared to learn Dutch. The same applies to those who commit crimes or disturb public order. Wilders also said Islamic imams who incite hatred or violence should be deported and deprived of Dutch citizenship, newspaper Algemeen Dagblad reported. The MP is an independent in the Lower House of Parliament, Tweede Kamer, after turning his back recently on the Liberal VVD when the party tried to curtail his right-wing statements. His comments about immigration call to mind anti-immigrant politician Pim Fortuyn who claimed the Netherlands was full and demanded that Dutch borders to be closed to new immigrants.
He was shot and end by Muslims on 6 May 2002. Muslims claimed they end Fortuyn to protect the weaker groups in society
