The police have arrested a first suspect for involvement in the anti-Semitic mural about ex-Feyenoord player Steven Berghuis. It concerns a 41-year-old man from Voorburg. The mural, which was applied at the end of July in the Rotterdam district of Crooswijk, depicts the football player who left for Ajax as a victim of the Holocaust. The mural sparked a storm of outrage.
The investigation into the makers of the mural led the police to the man from Voorburg. He was arrested at his home on Tuesday evening. The suspect is currently at large, police said. “But he remains a suspect in the case. The investigation continues and more arrests are not ruled out.”
‘Very offensive graffiti drawing’
In the painting, Berghuis was depicted with a large nose, skullcap and Star of David, with the text ‘Jews always run away’ next to it. The mural surfaced after it became known that the Feyenoord captain was going to make the switch to arch-enemy Ajax. It did not go down well with many fans.
This was so shocking and discriminatory that we immediately removed it
The municipality soon removed the mural. “This was so shocking and discriminatory that we removed it immediately after the report. A special team is available 24 hours a day for this. Drawings that are not so bad will be removed within three days. But this had to go right away. That was clear,” said a spokesman for City Management at the time.
The Public Prosecution Service, who spoke of a ‘very offensive graffiti drawing’, announced this summer that it wanted to prosecute the makers of the anti-Semitic mural for group insult and incitement to hatred. According to the Public Prosecution Service, a limit has been crossed. The Israel Information and Documentation Center (CIDI) filed a complaint against the creator(s) of the mural.
More threats
Berghuis was also threatened earlier in July via a photo on social media showing a banner with check marks behind the names of ‘Polletje’ and Peter R. de Vries. ‘Polletje’ is Ajax supporter Martin van de Pol who was liquidated earlier this year and Peter R. de Vries died as a result of a shooting. Berghuis’s name was also on the banner, but without a check mark.
Steven Berghuis officially filed a report with the police after a number of serious threats to his address and that of his family.
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