Immigrants living in The Hague’s Duindorp neighbourhood have lately been hounded by racist violence and aggression, leaving local politicians and police more and more concerned.

The owner of a Turkish bakery in the area suspects racism as the motivation behind the burning of his store. Windows of immigrants’ homes have also been smashed in and painted with swastika signs. One family even reported that a pig’s head had been hammered to their door ‘because they had the cheek to come and live here.’

A group of local white residents are said to be the culprit behind the wave of xenophobic actions in Duindorp, a neighbourhood close to Scheveningen harbour. Some locals interviewed by media outfits showed tolerance of the racist behaviour and outright aggression towards the immigrant population in their area:

‘My son has been waiting for a house in Duindorp for four years and then along comes a burqa with a man who has a dromedary and a camel. They get one within a week. Get lost. We don’t want them here,’ said one resident.

Another lamented how the closeness of the neighbours was ruined when immigrants came in: ‘It is a big group of friends, we leave our doors open and nothing ever happens between us. But if the foreigners move in, then the problems start.’

The Hague’s Mayor Jozias van Aartsen promised to act on the situation along with police and housing corporation Vestia. The mayor said he will not tolerate racism in his city: ‘not in Duindorp, not in Scheveningen, nowhere in the city.’

City Councillor Richard de Mos also expressed his concern over the situation: ‘There is nothing the matter with sentiment but we cannot tolerate the use of violence against other population groups.’