http://www.beliefnet.com/story/95/story_9539_1.html
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Dutch Study Says Racism Has Increased
The Associated Press
Amsterdam, Netherlands, Dec. 11--(AP) Despite the Dutch reputation for
tolerance, a monitoring group said Tuesday racism and discrimination have
increased in both frequency and degree in recent years. The Anne Frank
Foundation of Leiden University, named for the Dutch girl whose diary
became a literary standard of the Jewish holocaust, cited hundreds of
incidents in which war monuments were damaged, Jewish graves defaced and
immigrants assaulted. The study did not cover dozens of incidents after
the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, which it said "undeniably had
a negative impact on the interethnic relations." The researchers said
there were reports of 345 incidents in 1999 and 406 in 2000, compared
with an average of 300 over the past five years. The incidents were more
violent and more focused on individuals than before, it said. It
attributed the rise in anti-Semitic incidents to the growing violence of
the Israel-Palestinian conflict. It also said extremist right-wing groups
and political parties were gaining ground, while moderate groups were
losing popularity.
