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Amsterdam: Help photos by Alan Grinberg |
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| The Theo Van Gogh murder was big. We didn't find out about it until that evening when we were going out for dinner. After walking a block from our hotel we noticed everyone - hundreds of people - were all moving in the same direction. They were going the opposite way that we wanted to go, so we gave up on that route. We knew something was happening so we asked someone, and found out about Theo's murder, which happened in the morning. The Mayor of Amsterdam called for a rally (protesting murder as a weapon against free speech) that night in Dam Square. This type of protest is usually silent, but he said tonight we should make a lot of noise. Apparently there were many thousands of people at the protest, and the people we saw were going home. Some noise was still happening when we got to the square, but I was sorry we missed the full blown heart of the action, including speeches in Dutch. We managed to get our hands on some English papers over the next few days and found out a bit more about Theo Van Gogh and the murder. He was an incendiary guy, but it is really a shame someone silenced him over words. This event added new meaning to our visit to Anne Frank's house. The photo is of an impromptu memorial in Dam Square. |
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| Not a bad photo to run across after the murder of a journalist. |