Press Release
Racism in Utrecht: More Moroccans are Fined because of their Ethnic Background

Trouw Newspaper reported last week that Utrecht investigated cases of institutional racism within its municipality by research bureau Omlo. The researchers investigated several departments and found no institutional racism. That is, it was not found in their official policy and legislation.

The researchers did encounter several forms of racist remarks within the informal atmosphere of the municipality. This involves the Department of Public Order and Enforcement to which investigating officers belong. The Omlo researchers concluded that the civil enforcement agents often mock and insult those with a migratory background. They were also not corrected by their colleagues, not even their supervisors. Moreover, the research bureau found that parking tickets in neighborhoods with relatively more Moroccan inhabitants are more frequently given as opposed to neighborhoods in which there are relatively more Dutch inhabitants.

As a response, the Dutch organization of civil enforcement agents directly undermined and dismissed the conclusions. The head of the organization called it a “worthless report” which lacked a scientific base. The Utrecht councilor stated that the conclusions were not alarming and called it an incident that is not justifiable. The councilor further stated that the mishaps occurred due to staff shortages and the influx of new personal. They then said that sometimes they are just ‘letting out some steam’ during work.

The fact that racism is once again found in one of the government institutions is not remarkable. If the ‘tax rebate controversy’ has taught us anything is that taking responsibility for racist behavior has no place within the capitalist secular system in The Netherlands. The reaction of those responsible, the municipality and the head of the BOA organization are exemplary. They immediately resort to nuances to uphold and maintain the facade of the corrupt secular system.

Enforcing the rights of people in the secular capitalist system is not viewed as an ethical obligation and this is what we see in their reactions when asked about the violation of the honor of Muslims and other ethnic groups in the Utrecht neighborhoods. The difference of enforcement in Islam is that in the Islamic State, al Khilafah, there is no difference between race or color. The rights of all are enforced as the Sharia determined and violators are judged the same way irrespective of race, status or skin color.

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
in The Netherlands