THE NETHERLANDS:Right-wing Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders launched a film yesterday that accuses the Koran of inciting violence, despite government fears that it will offend Muslims worldwide and stoke unrest.
The film was posted on his Freedom Party's website (www.pvv.nl), which crashed soon afterwards. But it could still be viewed on a file-sharing website in English and Dutch.
Titled Fitna, a Koranic term sometimes translated as "strife", the short film started with a warning of "very shocking images". It interspersed images of the September 11th, 2001, attacks and other Islamist bombings with quotes from the Koran.
"Prepare for them whatever force and cavalry ye are able of gathering to strike terror, to strike terror in the hearts of the enemies of Allah and your enemies," the first quote read.
The Dutch government has distanced itself from Mr Wilders's views and has expressed fears the film will cause the kind of backlash by Muslims similar to that sparked by cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in Danish newspapers in 2006.
Before seeing the film, demonstrators have already taken to the streets from Afghanistan to Indonesia to express their anger at the Netherlands, while the governments of Pakistan and Iran have sharply criticised the project.
Earlier this month, Dutch officials raised the national risk level to "substantial" partly because of the Wilders film and perceptions of an increased al-Qaeda threat.
Brahim Bourzik, a spokesman for a Dutch Moroccan group said mosques would open their doors today and several imams would give their views on the film to help defuse tensions.
"It is not a film - it is propaganda. All the elements have been seen before, there is nothing new in it," he said.
He added he did not believe Muslims would find it offensive. "There will not be angry reaction in the Netherlands and I hope also not abroad," he said.
The film showed a graph of the growing number of Muslims in the Netherlands and Europe. After the words "The Netherlands in the future?" it showed pictures of children with blood on their faces, a woman being stoned and an image of genital mutilation.
The film also showed a picture of the Koran followed by the sound of ripping paper: "The sound just heard was a page being torn from a phone book, as it is not for me but for Muslims themselves to tear out the hate-filled verses from the Koran." After the words "Stop Islamisation. Defend our freedom", it concludes with the Danish cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad with a bomb under his turban accompanied by the sound of ticking and then images of a lightning strike.
- (Reuters)