Amsterdam police investigating threatening letter sent to prominent Black activist

The letter, which contains racial epithets and insults, purports to come from the Northern division of the far-right anti-immigrant Pegida organization. In a reaction posted to Instagram, the Dutch branch of Pegida denied involvement, saying that however much the disagree with Afriyie, “we will never send this sort of cowardly, threatening, racist letter to anybody.” Police say in a tweet that they are investigating who sent the letter.

Police in Amsterdam say they are investigating a threatening letter sent to a prominent Black activist. Jerry Afriyie posted a photo of the letter on his Twitter feed Saturday.

He tweeted, "We are entering the next phase. My family is being threatened because I along with others fight against racism." Afriyie has long been a leader of efforts to eradicate the children's character Black Pete, who is often portrayed by white people wearing blackface makeup at celebrations each December marking Sinterklaas, a Dutch celebration of St. Nicholas. The letter, which contains racial epithets and insults, purports to come from the Northern division of the far-right anti-immigrant Pegida organization.

In a reaction posted to Instagram, the Dutch branch of Pegida denied involvement, saying that however much the disagree with Afriyie, "we will never send this sort of cowardly, threatening, racist letter to anybody." Police say in a tweet that they are investigating who sent the letter. The Amsterdam police tweet added, "as police we take this case extremely seriously.".

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)