The brother of Peter R. de Vries thinks that a street in Amsterdam should be named after the murdered crime journalist. In the program Humberto he reacted positively to noises about it.
“I would like to call on Halsema: throw out a naval hero and come up with a Peter R. de Vries street name,” said Wouter de Vries in the RTL program. He suggested that children Royce and Kelly help decide which street is chosen.
In recent days, the idea has been raised on social media to name the Lange Leidsedwarsstraat, where De Vries was shot, after him. The chance of this seems small: municipalities prefer to change non-existing street names because of the paperwork and it is also unusual to honor someone shortly after death.
Nevertheless, friend Peter Schouten has pointed out the initiative to Mayor Halsema. “I think it’s good if we remember how someone like that fought for all of us.”
Statue?
Brother Wouter hopes for a lasting memorial to De Vries. “I myself am not waiting for a statue of my brother, but I am waiting for a monument by Peter R. de Vries.”
He spoke about a place where society can reflect on what has happened. “A kind of monument where you think back to something, but also look ahead.”
Schouten added that it is important to continue to work on the ideals to which De Vries committed himself. He called it “a scandal that parents of a murdered child should have one last straw who was Peter”.
De Vries was cremated on Thursday after a private funeral. Yesterday the municipality of Amsterdam cleared the sea of flowers that had formed at the scene of the murder. Messages left behind were kept.
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