Dutch activists lose ethnic profiling case but vow to appeal

Mpanzu Bamenga with his legal team and rights activists outside a courtroom at The Hague District court (AP Photo/Mike Corder)

A Dutch court has ruled that border police can use ethnicity as one of the criteria for selecting people for checks at the border, a legal defeat that rights activists immediately vowed to appeal against.

The decision came in a case brought against the government by two citizens, backed by rights groups, who argued that they were singled out for checks by officers from the country’s Marechaussee police force because of the colour of their skin.