NETHERLANDS: The Dutch government has called for calm following the murder of Theo Van Gogh, a controversial filmmaker and newspaper columnist who had criticised Muslims, writes Denis Staunton European Correspondent
Mr Van Gogh (47), who received death threats earlier this year after the release of his anti-Islamic film Submission, was stabbed and shot dead in Amsterdam yesterday morning.
Police arrested a 26-year-old man with dual Dutch and Moroccan nationality after a shoot-out with officers in a park near the scene of the attack.
Thousands of people demonstrated in Amsterdam's Dam Square last night after the city's mayor called on citizens to mark Mr Van Gogh's death with a rally for freedom of speech. The Dutch prime minister, Mr Jan Peter Balkenende, expressed shock at the murder and praised the dead man as a champion of free speech, but warned against a hasty response from the public.
"Nothing is known about the motive. I want to call on everyone not to jump to far-reaching conclusions," he said.
At the time of his death, Mr Van Gogh, who was a distant relation of the 19th-century painter, was completing a film about Pim Fortuyn, the right-wing populist who was murdered two years ago. Called 06-05 after May 6th, 2002, the date Mr Fortuyn was assassinated by an animal rights activist, the film suggested that the murder was part of a broader conspiracy and criticised the Dutch authorities for failing to protect the politician.
The 10-minute film Submission featured a fictional veiled Muslim woman speaking about her violent forced marriage, her rape by a relation and the brutal punishment she received for adultery. During parts of the film, verses from the Koran were projected through a transparent gown on to the actress's naked body. The film's writer, Ms Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born Dutch parliamentarian who has renounced her Islamic faith, has received numerous death threats and has been under permanent police protection.
Muslim groups in the Netherlands were swift to condemn Mr Van Gogh's murder yesterday, warning against an escalation in tension between Muslims and other Dutch residents.
"I abhor his views on Islam and find them hurtful for the Islamic community, but there is no motive that can justify a murder," said Mr Ayhan Tonca, a spokesman for a Dutch body responsible for contacts between the government and the Islamic community.
Mr Van Gogh was cycling to his studio before 9 a.m. yesterday when he was approached by a bearded man dressed in a traditional Muslim robe. The man fired a number of shots at Mr Van Gogh, who swerved and fell to the ground, where the assailant stabbed him twice, leaving a note in Arabic on the body.
The man fled to a nearby park where he exchanged shots with police officers before he was wounded and arrested. The authorities declined to give details of the note left by the body or to name the suspect, who has no criminal record.