Far-right Dutch MP met with protests on London visit (Roundup)

Oct 16, 2009, 14:28 GMT

   London - Controversial right-wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders was met by angry protestors in front of the Houses of Parliament Friday, as he arrived on a visit after winning an appeal against a previous entry ban by the British Home office.

   The 46-year-old, who heads the Dutch Freedom Party, had been invited by Independence Party peer Lord Pearson to visit the House of Lords.

   He had been turned away at Heathrow Airport on an earlier scheduled visit in February - but this time was allowed in after Home Secretary Alan Johnson said he was 'not minded' to stop Wilders entering the country.

Around 40 protestors, mainly from Muslim groups, demonstrated outside the parliament buildings, with some calling Wilders an 'enemy of Islam.'

   Wilders held a press conference although his controversial film Fitna - which he had originally been invited by Pearson to show - will not be shown.

   The film describes the Koran as a book inciting violence against non-Muslims, with scenes showing the attacks on the US World Trade Centre, and Muslim children supporting anti-Semitism.

At the press conference Wilder quoted British writer George Orwell, saying 'if liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they don't want to hear.'

Lord Pearson said his arrival was 'a celebration of the victory of freedom of speech over those who would prevent it in this country, particularly the Islamists, the violent Jihadists who are on the march across the world and in the UK.'

Abu Muaz, a spokesman for the Islam For UK group, said: 'If I were to say some of the things he (Wilders) has said I would be arrested under the Terrorism Act. But because there is a war on Muslims he gets an easy ride.'

However Mohammed Shafiq, from the Ramadhan Foundation, said it was right that Mr Wilders had been allowed into the UK, but he should be closely monitored while in the country.

A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain said that 'our unhealthy obsession with divisive figures only bolsters their objective to sow discord on the streets of Britain.'

   The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal on Tuesday overturned the previous entry ban against Wilders, saying there was no evidence that he represented a serious threat to the fundamental interests of society.

   The court stated that it was 'more important to allow free speech than to take restrictive action speculatively', the BBC reported.

   However, the British government warned that Wilders' behaviour during his scheduled visit could lead to him being turned away in the future.