In 1951 there was a riot in the northern Dutch province of
Friesland. It was not much of a riot, really, but the reasons
for it, and the consequences, were interesting. The trouble
started when a judge refused to hear the testimony of a local
veterinarian in Frisian. The judge couldn’t understand Frisian,
an old Germanic language related to Dutch, German, and English,
and in any case Dutch was the official language of public
affairs in Friesland. So the judge, though perhaps a little
tactless, was within his rights. Things were stirred up,
however, by the editor of a local newspaper named Fedde Schurer,
who wrote a scorching attack against the judge, comparing him to
the “Saxon gang” which invaded Friesland from Germany at the end
of the fifteenth century. Schurer was prosecuted for contempt of
court. A mob gathered in protest in the central square of
Leeuwarden, the provincial capital. Schurer was carried around
on the shoulders of his supporters. The police charged with
truncheons; the fire brigade pulled o