Mira Trapper
trapper
Registered: 09/17/07
Posts: 689
Loc: Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia
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Can't help but wonder if some Big Shot Government official get terminal news or did the Netherlands Government finally find out that courage, is the answer to terrorists?
Radio Netherlands
Dutch government seeks to resurrect research centre
Cabinet defies animal rights activists
By political editor John Tyler
23-04-2008
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/netherlands/080423-animal-testing
Interior Minister Guusje Ter Horst told the Dutch parliament on
Tuesday that she will look into finding another location to host the
Sciencelink centre which had been planned for the southern town of
Venray. Through a campaign of intimidation, animal rights activists
managed to scare away those involved in the plans for the centre in
Venray.
Dutch politicians are concerned and want to make sure something like
this doesn't happen again. The centre - called Sciencelink - would
have conducted various kinds of tests on live animals and would have
created about 400 new jobs. However, the mayor and an alderman were
given police protection following threats of violence by animal rights
activists.
Earlier this year, the company which was to have built the industrial
park, Van der Looy Project Management, pulled out of the development,
saying the opposition had become "threatening and unacceptable". The
animal rights activists claimed victory, one spokesman calling the
decision by Van der Looy to pull out "fantastic".
Extremists
Dutch authorities are concerned that international animal rights
activists are joining forces with local extremists, forming a powerful
combination. The government has proposed using anti-terrorism laws to
deal with threat, following the example set by authorities in the
United Kingdom.
Some members of parliament think existing laws are sufficient. Esther
Ouwehand is a member of parliament for the Party for the Animals. Her
party is caught right in the middle. While they condemn the use of
violence, they also campaigned against the new research centre. Ms
Ouwehand doesn't think animal rights activists, even those who resort
to violence, should be considered terrorists. She says,
"Well, that's weird because our government formally takes the position
that animal rights activists are not terrorists, and the national
security agrees. So on the one hand animal rights activists are not
seen as terrorists, on the other hand our government is forcing the
terrorism laws on them and we oppose that because we feel our penal
code has enough possibilities to prosecute people who do not respect
the law."
Prosecution call
The Party for the Animals wants those involved in intimidating people
in Venray to be prosecuted. But Ms Ouwehand claims the extremists
actually distracted attention from broad popular resistance to the
centre.
Her fellow MP from the Christian Democrat party, Sybrand Haersma Buma,
disagrees. He says the centre would have opened were it not for a very
small minority of extremists. Mr Haersma Buma wants the government to
use all means necessary to go after the animal rights extremists.
"The damage that they cause on society is bigger than the damage
caused by for example Islamic extremists. If you look at the damage
that has been done in this last year from animal rights activists it
has been much bigger, although their actions are not directed against
the general public in the metro, in the streets, or whatever. But
whatever name you put on it, if we want to protect society against
radical extremists, we have to focus on Muslim activists as well as on
these animal rights activists. "Mr Haersma Buma says he supports an
initiative to get the research center built in another community.
During Tuesday's debate in parliament, the minister of the interior
said she agreed to look into the possibility. So stay tuned - this
story looks set to repeat itself - but next time, the government will
be more prepared.
Edited by Mira Trapper (04/24/08 10:49 AM)
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