Police are treating a fire that broke out at the home of Rotterdam alderman Faouzi Achbar on Saturday as suspicious.

Achbar and his family were not at home at the time. A neighbour discovered the fire around 8.30pm and alerted the fire service.

The damage to the house is considerable and the family is not expected to be able to return for some time.

“We are treating this as arson,” a police spokesman told the AD, while a spokesman for the alderman said Achbar was “shocked” and awaiting the findings of the police investigation.

in 2022, the 41-year-old Achbar, who is alderman for sport and digital inclusion, was one of two representatives of the pro-migration party Denk to take up office on Rotterdam city council. He also did a stint as councillor from 2018 and became the local party chair in 2021.

“Attack on democracy”

“This is an outright attack on a politician and his family,” Denk said in a written reaction. “We regard this as a direct attack on democracy and the rule of law, a sickening attack on a person who is putting his heart and soul every day in the work he does for this city.”

Denk chair Serkan Soytekin called the perpetrators of the fire “cowardly, sad and criminal”. “I am profoundly shocked. This could easily have gone very wrong had the family been home.

“I have no idea where this came from and I hope they catch the culprit soon to make things easier for him. Not knowing why this happened makes it harder still,” Soytekin said.

Threats of violence against politicians has been proliferating over the last few years.  A record 1,125 threats against politicians were registered via a special police hotline in 2022, almost double the 2021 total.

Increasing threat

The number of threats considered to be criminal offences rose even more sharply, from 373 in 2021 to 889. The increase was largely down to many new threats made against far-right PVV party leader Geert Wilders. 

In total, 37 cases went to court in 2022, resulting in punishments ranging from several months in jail for the man with a flaming torch outside finance minister Sigrid Kaag’s home, to community service sentences.

A recent analysis by Dutch counter-terrorism unit NCTV warned that some of the tens of thousands of people in the Netherlands, who believe in the concept of an “evil elite” and refuse to recognise the state or the rule of law, are prepared to use violence.

“There has been a rise in intimidation and threats against local politicians, officials, judges, journalists and academics, among others,” the NCTV said. “There have also been some minor violent confrontations with police and bailiffs.”