As I started to write this article, an envelope crashed on the floor out of a Dutch activist magazine containing a message from the Dieren Bevrijdings Front claiming an arson attack on the night of June 17 on a slaughterhouse in a town called Son. Damage to the company was estimated at 800.000 guilders due to the loss of two new meat transport trucks, which were loaded with mutilated corpses of hundreds of pigs.

The DBF stated that their intention was to entirely destroy the slaughterhouse by starting the fire at the trucks parked in the loading docks. They learned this method from another ALF cell who did destroy 1/3 of a different slaughterhouse on the night of March 25 by igniting the trucks in the loading docks. The damage done at the slaughterhouse of Dumeco in Boxtel was estimated at more than 25 million guilders. The owner of the former kill-factory told the media that it would be out of order for at least half a year. The latest attack and the one in Boxtel can be regarded as one of many victories the Dutch ALF has accomplished in the last three years.

An intensive arson campaign against transport companies and slaughterhouses was launched in 1998 to let the industries know that they will never be tolerated. Belgian and Dutch activists successfully carried out more than 35 direct actions against the meat industry and fur farming industries since. In Holland, no arrests have been made and the police only found one empty red jerrycan with a black lid on it, stating they found a red jerrycan with (as you can guess) a black lid on it.

The media reported on the attack at Boxtel not only because it was so big but also because Holland was under the curse of Foot and Mouth disease. Headlines in the national serious newspapers reported the arson attack in one breath with the spread of the disease, the sad conditions in which the animals live their lives, and the public outcry to the government to take action and change these conditions. The timing was right. As I said before, most of the time the Dutch ALF uses arson to take out the killing machines. As most of the ALF cells use the same incendiary device, it will be hard for the police to link actions to one another.

Cells have stated in their press releases that they use a soft plastic bottle with the top removed, filled with gasoline and oil. The detonation is a piece of firework, a stick (not incense but sparking cold fire which is harmless so little children can hold it in their hands) that burns slowly to the bottle where it makes contact with a piece of newspaper soaked with gasoline. This paper will light up when the stick is almost burned, igniting the bottle with gasoline which will be the beginning of the end for the target.

On the 4th of February, near the town of Ven-Zelderheide, 600 mink cages were trashed as well as several water vole traps elsewhere in the country. The last mink liberation dates from last fall, when several hundred mink were liberated just before their execution. On the political level, the farmers are confronted with a Minister of Agriculture who wants to ban fur farming. The question remains as to whether the full government will accept this. A lot of liberal and Christian parties have serious doubts and a lot of influence, so we have to see if it will be sooner or later that they are forced to close down.

On a positive note, Dutch activists have found a common goal in closing down the Biomedical Primate Research Centre. Different groups are focusing on strategies and demos are held frequently at the site in Rijswijk. It all started about two months ago when a media freak entered the premises of the centre and videotaped the primates trapped in small cages in the breeding facility. Aggressive employees let the reporter know he was uninvited and the broadcast on national television resulted in a lot of negative publicity for the centre. A committee advised the Minister of Agriculture to abort all tests on chimpanzees. This resulted in the release of some chimps. Of course, the centre made sure that when the baby chimps left the centre the cameras were rolling. At this moment, though, it is still very unsure where the rest of the animals will go, and the centre has already announced that they want to keep at least 25 chimpanzees. The freedom for some of the chimpanzees is a victory we celebrate. Our hearts are with the 1500 other primate brothers and sisters still trapped under the vivisectors' knives. The fight has just begun!!

Our thoughts, love and strength go out to Barry, Mel, Dave, Jeffrey and all the other prisoners of war... UNTIL ALL ARE FREE... ALF-SG HOLLAND.