House of Representatives commemorated Utrecht and New Zealand attacks
On Tuesday, 19 March 2019, at the beginning of its sitting, the House of Representatives commemorated the victims of the Utrecht attack on Monday, 18 March, and the attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Friday 15 March. On behalf of the House, the President, Ms Khadija Arib, expressed her sympathy with the victims and their families.
The President of the House said that the Christchurch attack has had a "dramatic impact", not only on society in New Zealand, but also in the Netherlands. ''It was an attack on the values which belong to a democracy, an open and free society such as ours."
''Yesterday, hate and violence proved to be at closer quarters than we had imagined", she continued. "We have not yet gotten all the answers. [...] What we do know, however, is that the Netherlands has been hit hard. [...] I do not believe that the scars that were left upon us yesterday will soon disappear, but I hope that we will be able to demonstrate our resilience. That we will not allow ourselves to be intimidated and driven apart. That we will never allow such a cowardly act to destabilise our society.''
On behalf of the House of Representatives, the President has wished the president of the parliament of New Zealand strength and she "expressed the hope that the unity demonstrated in New Zealand may be a point of light in these dark times.''
''We, in Utrecht and in the Netherlands, are also mourning", she concluded. ''We share the grief, the pain and the anger of the victims and the surviving relatives.''