Holland: Hague bomb
01 July 2003
On July 1, 1993 at 03.00 hrs the Dutch ministry of Social Affairs and Employment in The Hague was struck by a bomb that caused severe damage. The attack was aimed at the offices of the Labour Relations Inspection Service (Dienst Inspectie Arbeidsverhoudingen, DIA) and claimed by the mysterious Rara (Revolutionary Anti Racist Action) group as a protest against the DIA's role in tracking down "illegal aliens" who work mainly in sweatshops and market gardening. Rara has claimed a number of bomb attacks over the last eight years, including those against the Ministry of the Interior and the house of State Secretary Mr. Aad Kosto in November 1991. Mr Ren R., the only person ever prosecuted as a Rara member, received a minor sentence for lack of evidence in 1989, and Rara has become a major frustration for both the police and the BVD. The BVD has announced that this time the security service will not participate in the team investigating the July 1 attack. Furthermore, Prime Minister Mr Ruud Lubbers expressed in clear terms his dissatisfaction with the BVD's performance in a TV interview. Immediately after the November 1991 bombing BVD head Mr Arthur Docters van Leeuwen emphasized that he knew exactly which individuals were responsible for the attacks but, when no arrests followed, Mr. Docters's self-assuredness was criticized by MPs and in the press. In a parliamentary debate immediately after the latest attack on 1 July, the MP for the right-wing VVD party Mr. Hans Dijkstal opposed any BVD involvement in the investigations. This time, the tension was raised to an even higher level when on 2 July, an anonymous editor of the newspaper NRC Handelsblad, quoting "a BVD spokesman", wrote that Mr Ren R. was directly involved in the latest attack and that his partner had written the Rara's press statement. Observers conclude that either Mr Docters can no longer guarantee the discretion of his personnel or the BVD has resorted to a desperate move to compensate for a lack of evidence that would stand up in court. This unexpected move could also be seen as a counterattack against accusations voiced last month that BVD personnel are harassing people they suspect of having Rara connections.