Scuffles erupt in protests for, against ‘Black Pete’
Saint Nicholas’ buddy under fire
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Police arrested 90 protesters Saturday as a traditional Dutch celebration of the arrival of Saint Nicholas was disturbed by demonstrators who say his faithful sidekick, “Black Pete,” is a racist caricature, and by supporters of the popular children’s figure.
In some of the worst scenes of unrest in the increasingly acrimonious debate about Black Pete, opponents scuffled with police on the historic market place of the central city of Gouda as thousands of children welcomed Saint Nicholas nearby.
Prosecution office spokesman Wouter Bos said 60 anti-Black Pete activists were arrested for demonstrating away from a location set aside for protesters and were each fined $275. Another 30, both supporters and opponents of Black Pete, were arrested for disturbing public order, Bos told the Associated Press.
Video from Gouda showed scuffles breaking out in its historic downtown while children’s songs played in the background. Protesters were detained by police as children watched.
“Deeply, deeply sad,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told broadcaster NOS. “Everybody can debate one another, we can endlessly discuss the color of Black Pete, but we should not disturb a children’s party in this way.”
The Dutch cheese capital of Gouda came up with a strategy for reconciliation as Saint Nicholas arrived Saturday. Black Petes walked side-by-side with yellowcolored “Cheese Petes,” a nod to the city’s most famous products but also a concession to critics of Black Pete.
The vast majority of people in Gouda were parents and their young children — many dressed as Black Pete — who braved cold and wet conditions to watch as Saint Nicholas arrived and rode through the town on a white horse to the market square.
Across Belgium and the Netherlands, celebrations in which Saint Nicholas rolls into town surrounded by a host of “Black Petes” have come under increasing pressure. Pete is usually played by a white person who paints his face pitch black, dons a frizzy wig and gives himself bright red lips — stereotypes that disappeared from most countries decades ago.
The Belgian town of Sint-Niklaas, with a church and statue honoring the saint, has long been one of the focal points of the celebrations that spread across the Netherlands and Belgium at this time of year.
Wouter Van Bellingen remembers how, as a black child growing up in mostly white Sint-Niklaas, he used to be taunted with chants of: “Look, there goes Black Pete.”
“Kids can be hard when it comes to that,” said the former Sint-Niklaas alderman and current director of the region’s Minorities Forum. “I retorted with, ‘There goes White Pete.’ I always had my answer.”
Black Pete has evolved over the years. A quarter century ago, Black Pete was a scary character, carrying a big bag to hold naughty children and a whip to punish the disobedient. Promoting him in recent years as a happy-golucky sidekick has helped him to compete in popularity with Saint Nicholas himself.
But efforts at softening Pete’s image have failed to subdue bad blood between the pro- and antiBlack Pete camps in the Netherlands, where resentments over immigration have simmered for years. Liberals want to abolish the tradition, while the right-wing firebrand Geert Wilders and his anti-immigration Freedom Party have proposed legislation that would keep Pete black — by law.