Mo-Film Update
Geert Wilders has expressed anger at the lack of support from his political colleagues in The Hague after an Al Qaeda-affiliated website called for the PVV politician to be “slaughtered” for his insults to Islam and the prophet Mohammed. Wilders has accused his parliamentary colleagues of “complete disinterest” regarding the threats and expressed outrage at the passive stance taken by Prime Minister Balkenende, who said in January that the Koran film could lead to a “serious crisis situation.”
Not completely passive, though, as it has also emerged that the Dutch government looked into whether Wilders’ film could be banned before it was released. Sources close to the cabinet have confirmed that the government prosecutor has investigated whether there are legal grounds to prevent the film from being released. Such a ban would be opposed by the socialist PvdA.
Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, several hundred people took to the streets to demonstrate that knowing nothing about a film is no barrier to objecting to it. Objecting to both the reprinting of the Mo-Toons (but not the murder plot that led to the reprinting) and Wilders’ still unreleased film, the demonstrators burned Dutch and Danish flags and called on the government to expel both the Dutch and Danish embassies from Afghanistan and stop any diplomatic relations with the two countries.
Following this demonstration Nato’s secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, has expressed concern that the film - if released - will have repercussions for troops in Afghanistan.
Monday 03 Mar 2008 | Paul | Afghanistan, The Netherlands
