Assassination of Theo van Gogh

Assasination of Theo van Gogh
Place where Gogh was killed.
Location	Amsterdam East
Coordinates	52°21′32.22″N 4°55′34.74″E
Date	2 November, 2004 9 am
Target	Theo Van Gogh
Weapons	HS2000 handgun
Perpetrators	Mohammed Bouyeri
Motive	To oppose the controversial film Submission

Theo Van Gogh was murdered by Mohammed Bouyeri as he was cycling to work on 2 November 2004 at about 9 o'clock in the morning, in front of the Amsterdam East borough office (stadsdeelkantoor), on the corner of the Linnaeusstraat and Tweede Oosterparkstraat (52°21′32.22″N 4°55′34.74″E). The killer shot van Gogh eight times with an HS2000 handgun. Initially from his bicycle, Bouyeri fired several bullets at Van Gogh, who was hit, as were two bystanders. Wounded, Van Gogh ran to the other side of the road and fell to the ground on the cycle lane. According to eyewitnesses, Van Gogh's last words were: "Mercy, mercy! We can talk about it, can't we?" Bouyeri then walked up to Van Gogh, who was still lying down, and calmly shot him several more times at close range. Bouyeri then cut Van Gogh’s throat, and tried to decapitate him with a large knife, after which he stabbed the knife deep into Van Gogh's chest, reaching his spinal cord. He then attached a note to the body with a smaller knife. Van Gogh died on the spot. The two knives were left implanted. The note was addressed and contained a death threat to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who was subsequently forced to go into hiding, threatened Western countries and Jews and also referred to the ideologies of the Egyptian organization Takfir wal-Hijra.

The alleged killer, Mohammed Bouyeri, a 26-year-old Dutch-Moroccan citizen, was apprehended by the police after a chase, during which he was shot in the leg. Bouyeri has alleged terrorist ties with the Dutch Hofstad Network. He was charged with the attempted murder of several police officers and bystanders, illegal possession of a firearm, and conspiring to murder others, including Hirsi Ali. He was convicted on 26 July 2005 and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.

The murder sparked a violent storm of outrage throughout the Netherlands. Flowers, notes, drawings and other expressions of mourning were left at the scene of the murder.

Funeral

Demonstration at the Dam square after Van Gogh was killed

Demonstrators. The sign, translated, says "Theo has been murdered".

The cremation ceremony took place on 9 November. He had spoken about his own funeral with friends shortly before his death because he had feared he would not survive a flight to New York. Maarten van Rossem was asked by Van Gogh's relatives to speak, something he found difficult in that he wanted to avoid sounding apocalyptic. His father spoke about how van Gogh would have liked all the media attention his murder had caused.

Aftermath

The day after the murder, Dutch police arrested eight Muslims supposedly belonging to a group later referred to as the Hofstad Network. Six detainees were Dutch-Moroccans, one was Dutch-Algerian, and one had dual Spanish-Moroccan nationality. The Dutch Complaints Bureau for Discrimination on the Internet (MDI) received many complaints about websites allegedly praising the murder and making death threats against other people.^[2]

At the same time, starting with four attempted arson attacks on mosques in the weekend of 5–7 November, numerous violent incidents and arson attacks took place, targeting Muslims.^[3] The Dutch Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia recorded a total of 106 violent incidents in November against Muslim targets. The National Dutch Police Services Agency (KLPD) recorded 31 occasions of violence against mosques and Islamic schools between 23 November and 13 March 2005.^[4] An arson attack destroyed a Muslim primary school in Uden in December 2004.^[5] By 8 November, Christian churches supposedly became targets of vandalism and arson attacks as well. A report for the Anne Frank Foundation and the University of Leiden, which counted a total of 174 violent incidents between 2–30 November, notes that mosques were the target of violence 47 times, and churches 13 times.^[6]

The murder widened and polarized the debate in the Netherlands about the position of its more than one million Muslim residents and how they would be affected. In an apparent reaction against controversial statements about the Islamic, Christian, and Jewish religions—such as those van Gogh was renowned for—the Dutch Minister of Justice, Christian Democrat Piet Hein Donner, suggested Dutch blasphemy laws should either be applied more stringently or made more strict. The liberal D66 party suggested scrapping the blasphemy laws altogether.

De Schreeuw (The Scream) Memorial commemorating Theo van Gogh and a symbol of the freedom of speech

The Independent Dutch member of parliament Geert Wilders advocated a five-year halt to non-Western immigration, saying: "The Netherlands has been too tolerant to intolerant people for too long. We should not import a retarded political Islamic society into our country".^[7] In opposition to such sentiments, campaigns for a kleurrijk Nederland ("colourful Netherlands"), such as Stop de Hetze (Stop the Witch Hunt), were started.

Geert Wilders and Ayaan Hirsi Ali went into hiding for several weeks. Wilders has been under the protection of bodyguards ever since and Hirsi Ali eventually relocated to the United States.

Theo van Gogh's son claims he has been attacked on several occasions by young people of Moroccan and Turkish descent, and that the police did not provide him with help or protection. The police denied receiving any report of attacks.

On 18 March 2007, a sculpture in memory of Theo van Gogh was unveiled in Amsterdam, entitled De Schreeuw ("The Scream"). It is located in the Oosterpark, just a short distance from where van Gogh was murdered.

A private trust, the Foundation for Freedom of Expression, was established to help fund protection for critics of Islam and Muslims.