Protests against far-right Dutch MP Wilders
Updated on 16 October 2009
Crowds protest outside parliament as right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who has compared the Koran to the writings of Hitler, arrived in Britain. Andrew Thomas reports.
Wilders, head of the far-right Freedom Party in Holland, was turned away in February over fears that his attacks on the Muslim religion could trigger unrest.
A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) branded Mr Wilders "a relentless preacher of hate" and objected to "the rapturous welcome he is receiving in the name of free speech".
MCB secretary general Muhammad Abdul Bari said: "At a time of heightened tension, with the unprecedented rise of the far right, we must all pull together and focus on points of unity and cohesion.
"Our unhealthy obsession with divisive figures only bolsters their objective to sow discord on the streets of Britain."
Interviewed by Krishnan Guru-Murthy, UKIP's Lord Pearson said: “I don’t agree that the Koran should be banned – even in Holland, where Mein Kampf is banned.”
“What I want is the Koran and its meaning – and, indeed, the whole Islamic religion – to be far more discussed and debated, particularly amongst the Muslim community.”
Asked whether he would have invited Hitler to speak to the House of Lords in the 1930s, Lord Pearson said: “I think it’s offensive to compare Wilders to Hitler.
“But I do think had Hitler come over here very much earlier, before he became a criminal, and had discussed his views much more openly, then Churchill perhaps wouldn’t have been quite such a lone voice.
And he went on: “I don’t know. I wasn’t alive at the time. But I certainly think that would have been helpful. And nothing could have been worse than ignoring him completely and appeasing him, which is what we did.
“And then we got the second world war and the Holocaust and all the rest of it.”
