THE HAGUE, Nov 3 (AFP) - A day after the brutal killing of controversial Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh by a suspect linked to Islamic extremists, many were left wondering what happened to the Netherlands' famed tolerance and fear a society deeply divided.
"The murder could be the start of a spiral in which different communities come to view each other as enemies," the Christian Trouw daily warned Wednesday.
Theo van Gogh, who had received threats over a controversial film he made about Islam, was shot and stabbed to death Tuesday while cycling on an Amsterdam street. His alleged assailant, identified as having dual Dutch and Moroccan nationality, was arrested shortly after the attack.
Public prosecutor Leo de Wit told a news conference in Amsterdam that the motive was believed to have been his radical Islamic views, basing the assumption on the content of two papers, one stuck on the dagger used to attack the director, the other found on the suspected killer during a search.
The judicial authorities declined to give further information on the content of the papers, with the prosecutor declining to confirm a report that the one found on the suspect's body was a farewell letter.
The suspect is being held in isolation and cannot receive anybody except his lawyer.
Late Tuesday Dutch Interior Minister Johan Remkes said the suspect had ties with Islamic extremists in the Netherlands but did not belong to the hard core group of some 150 extremists being monitored by the intelligence services.
Amsterdam police chief Bernard Welten said late Wednesday that a total of eight men aged between 19 and 27 had been arrested in connection with the murder. They were six Moroccans, one Algerian and a man having dual Moroccan and Spanish citizenship.
The arrests were made after police searched five apartments and seized computer equipment and fundamentalist writings.
All eight people had already been arrested for suspected terrorist activities in October 2003 but were later released. Van Gogh's killer was said to have had contacts with the group and allegedly stayed at each of the five homes searched.
By Wednesday night some 100 witnesses had been questioned by police.
After it became known that van Gogh's alleged killer was of Moroccan descent, politicians and commentators feared ethnic tensions and called for calm.
Later Wednesday an Internet condolence register set up for van Gogh was closed down because it was flooded with racist remarks.
Van Gogh, 47, was widely known for his outspoken criticism of Islam and recently caused uproar with a short film linking domestic abuse with the perceived subservient position of women in the Islamic faith.
Van Gogh, the great great nephew of 19th-century Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, was a staunch critic of multicultural society as a whole. Many Jewish organisation branded him an anti-Semite and he was generally known as a arch provocateur.
Out of a population of 16 million the Netherlands has some 900,000 Muslims and of those some 300,000 are of Moroccan descent. In the Moroccan community there is a growing fear that they will be singled out for revenge.
"Everybody is shocked by the murder. On the other hand ... there are people who wonder if there will be a war against Moroccans," Abdou Menabi, chairman of the Urban Assembly of Moroccans in Amsterdam said, voicing the concerns of many.
At a short memorial gathering for Van Gogh in Amsterdam, attended by some 20,000 people, many Muslims showed up especially to demonstrate that they condemned the killing.
Ikram, a 31-year-old mother, came to the rally with a sign saying 'Muslims against violence'.
"I was debating whether or not to come, but I decided that as a Muslim and as a Moroccan I should take up my responsibility to show that we do not support this act," she told AFP.
On Wednesday many papers compared the killing of van Gogh to the assassination of rightwing populist politician Pim Fortuyn on May 6, 2002.
Both men had outspoken views on Islam and many other issues and were always trying passionately to stir public debate.
"After Pim Fortuyn, another person has been killed who held strong views on controversial issues and did not hide them," the popular daily Algemeen Dagblad said.
"A mass demonstration of Dutch Muslims could be the symbolic start of a necessary cleansing," it suggested.
In Amsterdam several Moroccan organisations held a protest rally.
Van Gogh's film production company announced Wednesday that he would be cremated next week Tuesday in a memorial service open to the public.
11/03/2004 19:45 GMT - AFP