The far right may pose a serious challenge in June parliamentary polls Preliminary results in Dutch local polls suggest an anti-Islam party has made major gains and may pose a serious challenge in June parliamentary polls. The Freedom Party (or PVV), led by Geert Wilders, is opposed to what it calls the country’s “Islamisation”. General elections have been called following the collapse... 

Amsterdam – The rightist Freedom Party PVV said Monday it would ask the Dutch government to hold a referendum on banning the construction of minarets, following a similar vote in Switzerland. On Sunday, a large majority of Swiss voters cast ballots in favour of banning construction of the slender towers attached to mosques, despite opposition to such a move by the government. “We will... 

Amsterdam – Thirty-six per cent of Turkish and Moroccan migrants in the Netherlands are thinking about emigrating due to the increasing popularity of the controversial Freedom Party PVV, a study conducted by polling agency Moviction showed Monday. Dutch current affairs television programme NCRV Netwerk which commissioned the poll, is to air the study’s results Monday night. More than half... 

The Dutch opposition leader Geert Wilders, whose Freedom Party PVV remains the biggest in the polls, wants the Dutch government of Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende to help dissolve Belgium so that Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern half of Belgium, can be reunited with the Netherlands. Wilders refers to a recent survey of East West Global Index which indicates that Belgium ranks 152nd in a list... 

KABUL – The Taliban has threatened to step up attacks against Dutch soldiers in Afghanistan if Geert Wilders releases his “insulting” anti-Islam film. The PVV MP’s film is an “insult to Islam”, says Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesperson for the Taliban, in a telephone interview from an undisclosed location. “We in Afghanistan shall step up the attacks against the... 

The city of Amsterdam has developed teaching material warning children against the politics of Geert Wilders, newspaper De Telegraaf yesterday reported. Wilders calls the campaign “sickening”. The newspaper quoted from a letter that the city council has sent to three hundred primary and secondary schools in Amsterdam. Primary school heads believe that the letter is intended to anticipate...