Dutch Emigration Follows Muslim Immigration

February 27, 2005

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/international/europe/27dutch.html?ex=1110171600&en=d6582f891be6b650&ei=5070

On February 27, 2005 The New York Times reported, "Paul Hiltemann...was...taken aback in November when a Dutch filmmaker was shot and his throat was slit, execution style, on an Amsterdam street...'There was a big panic,' he said, 'a flood of people saying they wanted to leave the country.' Leave this stable and prosperous corner of Europe? Leave this land with its generous social benefits and ample salaries, a place of fine schools, museums, sports grounds and bicycle paths, all set in a lively democracy? The answer, increasingly, is yes. This small nation is a magnet for immigrants, but statistics suggest there is a quickening flight of the white middle class. Dutch people pulling up roots said they felt a general pessimism about their small and crowded country and about the social tensions that had grown along with the waves of newcomers, most of them Muslims. 'The Dutch are living in a kind of pressure cooker atmosphere,' Mr. Hiltemann said."