Amsterdam Councillors voted overwhelmingly on Monday to apologise for the Dutch port city’s history of slave trade, local media reported.
Seven political parties, which hold 31 of 45 seats in the city council, said a formal apology would be made on July 1 next year, according to Dutch News website.
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The apology will be timed to the annual independence celebration in the former Dutch colony of Suriname in South America, where African slaves were used to work on plantations.
This will be the first time that a Dutch city apologises for its role in the Netherlands’ slave-trading past after all earlier attempts were defeated. Rotterdam mayor suggested issuing a formal apology last year but the Councillors rejected it. (NAN)
