2023-11-24 04:36:09
After the right-wing populist Geert Wilders’ party won the parliamentary election, hundreds of people took to the streets in protest in the Netherlands. In Utrecht, around a thousand people followed the call from several 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.”
Wilder’s party wants to deport Syrians
Judy Karajoli, a Syrian journalism student, told AFP 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 residence permits who now fear for their future.
In its program, the PVV calls, among other things, for the residence permits of Syrian refugees to be revoked because parts of Syria are now “safe”. Haahmed Hassan, a software engineer from Egypt, said it frightened him that a party was trying to make the Netherlands “less safe, not safer.”
Thomas Gutschker Published/Updated: Recommendations: 2 A comment from Andreas Ross Published/Updated: Recommendations: 32 Thomas Gutschker, Brussels Published/Updated: Recommendations: 30
Difficult formation of a government
In the parliamentary elections on Wednesday, Wilders’ PVV won 37 of 150 parliamentary seats and thus became the strongest force in the popular representation. However, the country is likely to face a complicated government formation process as Wilders’ possible coalition partners have so far ruled out becoming his junior partners.
During the Dutch election campaign, Wilders tried to maintain a comparatively moderate image. In his PVV’s election program, asylum seekers are, among other things, supposed to “feast” for free, while Dutch families have to save on food. The PVV also calls for a ban on Islamic schools, the Koran and mosques, as well as a ban on headscarves in government buildings. Wilders’ party is also aiming to hold a “compulsory referendum” on the Netherlands’ exit from the EU.
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