Afrikaanderwijk riots
Afrikaanderwijk Riots (1972) | |
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Turks riot (the Netherlands) Rotterdam olayları (Turkey) | |
Date | 9 August - 14 August 1972 |
Location | |
Caused by | Xenophobia, housing crisis in Rotterdam |
Resulted in |
|
Casualties | |
Injuries | 4 Turks |
Arrested | 82 |
Afrikaanderwijk riots were the first
Name
The events are known in the Netherlands under various names, including Turkenrellen (Turks riot),[5] Pogrommerdam,[3] Afrikaanderwijk unrest or Pension riots.[6] In Turkey the incident is known as 'Rotterdam olayları', "Rotterdam events".[2]
The riot
As early as July 1971 a local commission warned about a possible race riot between the Dutch and immigrants; the Dutch in Rotterdam viewed the Turks as a community with a housing advantage compared to them.[6] Dutch natives became increasingly financially able to move to the suburbs, leaving behind disadvantaged lower class households, dissatisfied with the lack of social-cultural homogeneity in the neighbourhood.[7] The growing number of immigrants had increased accommodation prices.[8]
According to Marc Schuilenburg, Professor of Digital Surveillance at the Erasmus School of Law, there was a housing crisis in the neighbourhood, the feeling that the municipality neglected the situation and had no interest in the complaints of the residents, combined with racism and xenophobia.[9] According to the Rotterdam Mayor Thomassen the unrest was racially motivated.[3]
Things escalated on Thursday, 9 August, when a Dutch woman got into a dispute over her rent arrears and was illegally evicted, without court order, from a building owned by a Turkish guesthouse owner,[6] called the 'King of the Turks'.[7] A hour later the police arrived and found three Dutch injured and arrested four Turks. Soon a crowd of five hundred Dutch gathered around the place where the three Dutchmen were wounded. The crowd did not leave all night,[3] and people from other neighbourhoods and cities also joined the quarrel. Although the police tried to push back the rioters, the latter appeared every night with stones and sticks.[6] Turkish guest houses were attacked with firebombs and rocks,[9] the Turkish signs from the shops were removed and replaced by Dutch signs saying "this is the Netherlands".[2] One of the leaders of the riots said that their fury was not directed against the Turks, but against the Turkish hostels:
We did not do anything against these Turkish families, we were only about these hostels. First we took soundings in the neighbourhood as to whether we could get any support. After we had some fifteen people assembled, we gave those Turks a good dressing down. They did not have to leave, oh no, they just had to know their place.
The police remained passive most of the time, and did not know how to react, as this was the first time such an event had taken place in the country. The passivity of the police led to the continuation of clashes until 14 August.[10]
Several guest houses for migrants were closed and 82 people were arrested,[9] 4 Turks were injured,[11] 45 Turks, including 40 workers were expelled and the Dutch government paid compensation to 21 Turks.[4]
In the weeks following the incident, the municipality closed more than forty guest houses because they did not meet the requirements of the building and housing supervision. In October 1972, another 200 boarding houses were closed
Aftermath
The riots draw national attention to the problem of housing for foreign workers, who between 1968 and 1974 were recruited by the Dutch government to do mostly dirty and unpleasant work. Their employers signed contracts with cheap hostels near the centre of big cities.