News of: Saturday, March 17 2007,
The statue for Theo van Gogh will be unveiled tomorrow, in the Oosterpark in Amsterdam East.
The statue, called 'de Schreeuw' ('the Scream'), was created to commemorate the asassination of the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. He was stabbed to death on November 2, 2004, nearby the Oosterpark, by a Dutch muslim radical, while he was cycling to work.
The killing caused an immense shock in the Dutch society.
The statue that is unveiled on Sunday, shows a layered outline of Van Gogh's face; the layer on the inside shows his face with a closed mouth, the one on the outside with an opened mouth. This is meant to symbolically refer to the freedom of speech.
The mayor of Amsterdam (Job Cohen) will speak during the ceremony. Friends of Theo van Gogh will speak too, and chansons by Van Gogh will be sung.
The statue has caused controversy until the last moment. Only yesterday a court case ended in a decision in favour of the placement of the statue. A woman, whose house is directly in front of the statue, attempted to stop the placement, claiming it would be a risk for the public order.
The unveiling will take place tomorrow, at 3pm.
