Tag: Rotterdam

At the request of a Moroccan stand-up comedian a Dutch theater reserved a section of 50 chairs for Muslim women who did not want to sit next to men.

According to The Netherlands Minister of Integration doing so violates Holland’s Equal Treatment Act.

However, the Rotterdam city council, along with mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb — a practicing Muslim — there was no problem.

A Moroccan immigrant was installed Monday as mayor of Rotterdam, the Netherlands’ second largest city, in a move hailed as a significant step for the integration of minorities in the European Union nation.

Ahmed Aboutaleb, who has dual Dutch-Moroccan citizenship, is the first Moroccan-born immigrant to be appointed a Dutch mayor. Some have compared his achievement to that of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.