18 March 2016

Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders goes on trial for inciting hatred

.... State prosecutors say Wilders asked a crowd of supporters in March 2014 whether they wanted more or fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands, triggering the chant “Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!”, to which a smiling Wilders responded: “We’ll take care of that.”

The politician, whose decade-old Freedom party holds a commanding lead in Dutch opinion polls but has never been in power, denies any wrongdoing. “Nobody will silence me. Not about Moroccans either,” he tweeted last week. “No terrorist threats … no judge. Nobody.”

Wilders has lived under 24-hour protection since the 2004 murder of Theo van Gogh, who – like Wilders – made films criticising Islam.

The case against Wilders in 2011 centred on his call for a “towel-head” tax and equating the Qur’an with Hitler’s Mein Kampf. He said “Muslim criminals” should be stripped of their Dutch nationality and deported. [The Guardian] Read more