ah crap....this ain't good...

[Guest guest]

in the news here, Pim had been portrayed as a right wing nutto, hating muslims

and immigrants..according to this story, he wasn't.

ah poop...this doesn't sound good....

 

 

Dutch Animal Activist Charged in Politician's Murder

 

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, May 8, 2002 (ENS) - Pim Fortuyn, 54, a candidate for

the Dutch Parliament, was murdered here on Monday shortly after giving a radio

interview, by a man known to be an animal rights activist.

 

Moments after the shooting, police arrested a man in the radio station parking

lot. Charges of murder and illegal possession of weapons were filed today

against Volkert van der Graaf, 32, an activist who was thought to have been

upset by Fortuyn's statements supporting fur farming.

 

 

Pim Fortuyn (Photos courtesy Pim Fortuyn in Memorium)

Van der Graaf appeared in a closed court session in Amsterdam today. Police did

not release the defendant's last name, but he was identified by associates.

Prime Minister Wim Kok expressed his shock over this " deeply tragic " event. In a

statement to the country on national television, he said the slaying " has broken

my heart. "

 

In Parliament Tuesday, the Prime Minister said, " The Dutch people were

devastated and overwhelmed by the assassination of Mr. Fortuyn. His violent

death has shaken us all. "

 

Following a cabinet meeting Tuesday, Prime Minister Kok announced that the

parliamentary elections scheduled for May 15 will go ahead as planned. Kok said

discussions with cabinet members, leaders of the political parties and members

of Fortuyn's party were " intense " and gave him sufficient reasons to adhere to

the date originally set.

 

If the election had been held before his death on Monday, the Pim Fortuyn Slate

would have received between 19 and 26 seats out of 150 seats in the Dutch Second

Chamber, or Lower House.

 

 

Pim Fortuyn was known as a keen debater.

Fortuyn, who sought to represent his home city of Rotterdam, was regarded as a

political pragmatist who based his position on the best interest of the country.

Even though some in the world media have portrayed Fortuyn as a right wing

extremist, he was not, as most right wing politicians are, opposed to asylum

seekers or to immigrants.

The man who walked up to Fortuyn on a busy parking lot at the state owned media

park outside Radio 3 FM studios gunned him down at close range. Fortuyn was shot

five times, twice in the back.

 

Police identified the accused only as Volkert van der G, a Dutchman from

Harderwijk, a small religious community in the central part of the Netherlands.

 

Van de Graaf is a man in his early thirties, married and the father of a three

month old baby. At his home, on what is described as a quiet street, police

found ammunition matching the gun used to kill Fortuyn.

 

The suspect has been referred to by colleagues at the Milieu Offensief (United

Environmental Offensive) where he worked, as an animal rights activist. He was

opposed to the intensive farming industry and against the raising of animals for

fur.

 

Representatives of the small animal rights group were confounded by the news

that their associate had been arrested for Fortuyn's murder. Members of the

organization told police that Volkert was good in handling environmental court

cases for the group. One associate at the organization, a lawyer, says he cannot

imagine van de Graaf was familiar with guns.

 

Van de Graaf's wife and friends were shocked. His associates said he was not

interested in politics and never referred to Pim Fortuyn. The only link between

him and the politician is Fortuyn's statement that if in government he would

legalize mink farming, " they said.

 

 

Attorney Britta Boehler will represent the defendant. (Photo courtesy Swedish

Television)

Van de Graaf has no police record, but is known to the intelligence agency, the

Internal Security Service (BVD). He refused to talk with the police and has

retained a well known defense lawyer, Britta Boehler, who has defended Kurdish

Labor Party leaders and other high profile human rights cases in the

Netherlands.

Police said the van de Graaf was calm and unemotional after his deed. He refused

to make a statement, and as a result, his precise motives are still a mystery.

There is no evidence that other people were involved in the attack.

 

In an interview posted on the Milieu Offensief last year van de Graaf stated,

“I'm working for Milieu Offensief (Environment Offensive) that is involved in

the environment as well as animal welfare. "

 

" We work together toward the same result: stopping the expansion of factory

farming. Through legal procedures we fight permits for factory farms and fur

farms, using the law as our tool,†van der Graaf said.

 

“What happens to animals in factory farming is not right, " he said in the

interview. " Many animal protectors act from the assumption that ‘nature is

good,’ but every dark side of humans can also be found in nature. Protecting

animals is civilizing people, as they say. "

 

In Rotterdam, where Fortuyn's party took more than 35 percent of the vote in

recent local elections, more than 15,000 people participated in a memorial

march, and many others signed expressions of condolences at City Hall. A sea of

flowers has been laid at the Media Park in Hilversum where Fortuyn was shot, and

at his home and at Rotterdam City Hall.

 

Security has been stepped up outside most buildings across The Netherlands. The

residences of political party leaders and some cabinet members are now under

guard, a new phenomenon in this easy going country where the Prime Minister is

known to ride his bicycle to work.

[Guest guest]

hi ebrew

 

what are you sources for that news clip? funny, we haven't heard anything

over here about it.

 

God, the media is full of crap ... what with its drunken slurs, biased

inaccuracies and strings [ or is it stings ] pulled by industry and

politics.

 

but, of course, if you read it in a paper or see it on the TV, it must be

troo.

 

" Animal Activists " has obviously taken over from where " Blacks, Jews or

Communists ... " used to suffice. Likewise " Far Right " seems to be the new

" Bogey Man " occupying the space under the bed where the " Reds " used to

hide. It all becomes so meaningless after a while ... but for today is the

perfect slur.

 

Have vegans " Animal Activists " become " Far Right " yet or are they just

plain old fashioned " Terrorists " for just now.

 

It is just like 1984 all over again ... hate is the new compassion or is it

compassion as the new hate?

 

how we are dragged down to their level!

 

john

 

> ah crap....this ain't good...

>

> Dutch Animal Activist Charged in Politician's Murder

>

> AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, May 8, 2002 (ENS) - Pim Fortuyn, 54, a candidate

> for the Dutch Parliament, was murdered here on Monday shortly after giving a

> radio interview, by a man known to be an animal rights activist.