AMSTERDAM, August 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On July 30, the Amsterdam offices of EuroCongress, the professional conference organizer for World Congress of Families (WCF), were vandalized and damaged.
Vandals defaced and damaged the outside of the EuroCongress building by smearing paint and writing various obscenities and anti-Christian slogans.
The WCF has taken place four times since 1997, with the last congress in 2004 drawing 3900 participants to discuss the importance of the family for society and current threats against the institution. This year's event is set to take place from August 10-12 in Amsterdam, with participants coming from more than fifty countries from six continents.
Dutch Chairman of WCF V, Simon Polinder, reacted to the vandalism, saying, “This is really outrageous. We are organizing an international family congress, with which we intend to bring attention to the positive value of the family. This group evidently disagrees with that goal. Apparently they are not able to enter into a civilized conversation with us.”
World Congress of Families Managing Director, Larry Jacobs, expressed shock. “In 12 years of doing international pro- family Congresses this is the first time we've encountered this sort of violence,” he said.
“We know our opponents disagree with us on a broad range of issues. What's amazing is that these anti-family activists believe they have a right to engage in criminal acts of vandalism in an effort to intimidate those attending World Congress of Families V.”
Jacobs observed, however, that the vandalism isn't the first indication of strong opposition to the Congress. The group Autonomous Feminist Action has held organizing meetings against the Congress and posted a menacing drawing of a man and a woman, with a child and a cross between them. There's a dotted line going through the necks of the couple and a pair of scissors apparently ready to cut off their heads. The Feminist organization calls the WCF a group of “fundamentalistic (sic.) Christians” who “will plead for going back to the Christian traditions of traditional relationship between man and woman (sic).”
Jacobs pledged: “We will not be intimidated by these uncivilized, criminal tactics. Pro-family scholars, legislators and activists from over 50 countries will attend the Amsterdam Congress. This latest outrage makes it more important than ever to broadcast a positive, hopeful message of the centrality of the natural family to the heart of the European Union.”