People take to the streets in the Netherlands against Wilder’s Virtual G20 summit: Putin’s words are not for the faint of heart

After the right-wing populist party Geert Wilders won the House of Representatives elections, hundreds of people took to the streets in protest in the Netherlands. In Utrecht, about a thousand people followed the call from various left-wing parties for a demonstration under the motto ‘You are not alone’. A similar protest march took place in Amsterdam.

The organizers of the demonstration in Utrecht said: “We want to show the Dutch that we never leave anyone alone and that we stand up for the rights of everyone.”

Judy Karajoli, a Syrian journalism student, told the AFP news agency at the event that Wilders’ election success made her “very scared.” The PVV is an openly racist party. Many of her friends are refugees with a residence permit who now fear for their future.

In its program, the PVV calls, among other things, for the withdrawal of the residence permits of Syrian refugees because parts of Syria are now ‘safe’. Haahmed Hassan, a software engineer from Egypt, said he was concerned that one party wanted to make the Netherlands “less safe and not more secure.”

The PVV advocates a ban on Islamic schools

In Wednesday’s House of Representatives elections, Wilders’ PVV won 37 of the 150 seats in Parliament, making it the strongest force in parliament. However, the country is likely to face a complicated government formation process as Wilders’ potential coalition partners have so far ruled out becoming his junior partners.

During the Dutch election campaign, Wilders tried to maintain a relatively moderate image. In the election manifesto of his PVV, asylum seekers must, among other things, ‘party’ for free, while Dutch families must save on food.

The PVV also advocates a ban on Islamic schools, the Koran and mosques, as well as a ban on headscarves in government buildings. Wilders’ party also aims for a “mandatory referendum” on the Netherlands’ departure from the EU.

(hah/sda/afp)