Extremists threaten Dutch leader with violent display
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Far-left extremists have taken responsibility for a concerning incident involving an effigy of Dutch populist leader Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV), suspended by a noose.
Wilders, who has been under protection for two decades due to concerns about Islamist violence, shared the apparent threat from self-proclaimed anti-fascists in Dokkum last week.
Images posted on the Antifa-linked Indymedia platform showed an effigy dressed in a PVV-branded shirt, sporting a blonde wig, and hanging by a noose. The display was set up near the chapel of St. Boniface, at the site where the saint was killed in 754 AD by Frisian bandits.
A banner beneath the effigy read: “PVV = NSB,” comparing Wilders’ party to the World War II-era Nazi party in the Netherlands. It also stated, “THIS IS HOW FASCISTS END.”
The alleged perpetrators released a statement on Indymedia, claiming: “On the night of Halloween, Wednesday, October 30 to Thursday, October 31, 2024, anti-fascists in the Frisian Dokkum hung a look-alike of Geert Wilders from a noose.”
They further declared: “Geert Wilders’ PVV is a modern fascist and undemocratic political party that must be fought root and branch. There is no place for fascists in this world, not in politics and not in society.”
Wilders responded to the incident on social media, writing: “Geert Wilders on the rope… Too sick for words.”
This incident, largely overlooked by mainstream Dutch media, occurred almost exactly 20 years after Wilders and his wife were evacuated from their home due to threats from radical Islamists reacting to his stance against the Islamification of Europe. Since then, they have lived under constant protection in various safe houses.
Wilders, now a key figure in the current Dutch coalition government following his party’s victory in last year’s elections, reflected on this grim anniversary: “I fight for the freedom of the Dutch every day because I know how bad not having freedom is.”
