Amsterdam
Several Dutch high schools have forbidden students to display the Dutch flag or Dutch national colors, for fear of offending immigrants, Amsterdam’s De Telegraaf reported this week. School officials said that relations between ethnic Dutch and Muslim students were so tense that they were forced to curtail any display that might provoke a fight. Students at schools with a history of ethnic tensions have been barred from sporting Dutch flag decals or patches, and they are to be sent home if they wear red, white, and blue clothing. Even blue shoes with red and white laces can be considered provocative, the newspaper said. Muslims, mostly Turkish and Moroccan immigrants, make up about 6 percent of the Netherlands’ population.
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