Hundreds of demonstrators on Saturday crowded a main square at Rotterdam’s central station to protest what they described as the “discrimination against ordinary Dutch citizens” in favor of immigrants and Muslims.
The protest by about 700 right-wing supporters comes as Dutch political parties gear up for local government elections in March, with issues such as immigration and integration again expected to feature prominently among the nation’s 13 million voters.
“The Netherlands is our country, it’s not [Dutch Prime Minister] Mark Rutte’s country,” populist Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who led the demonstration, told the protesters.
“We live here, not in Morocco, we don’t live in Turkey or in Saudi Arabia, but in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands,” Wilders said.
“Here it’s our rules that count. I want to tell you that the Netherlands is not an Islamic country, do you agree?” Wilders said to loud applause, speaking through a megaphone and sporting his trademark peroxide hairdo.
He left the demonstration a short while later after safety concerns when his vehicle became boxed in by a throng of supporters and journalists.
Wilders, 54, is often called the “best protected” man in the country and lives under 24-hour security.
His anti-Islam views have seen him receive death threats including from terror groups such as the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda.
He is appealing a 2016 conviction for discrimination against Moroccans in a speech at a 2014 election rally.
Many protesters on Saturday waved Dutch flags and carried placards saying “Stop the Islamization of Europe” and “Keep the Dutch culture, traditions, norms and values.”
Police — who were out in force — formed a line between right-wing demonstrators and a handful of anti-demonstrators led by two MPs of the leftist Denk Party, which draws its support mainly from Turkish and Moroccan communities.
“This [Wilders’ message] is a message of hatred and division and we’re against it. We have a message of unity and solidarity,” Denk leader Tunahan Kuzu told reporters.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese