Rabat- The Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders was referred to prosecutors after making anti-Moroccan remarks during a campaign rally.
The Netherlands has attracted large numbers of Moroccans to cover its industrial labor force needs since the 1960s and 1970s, and now the Freedom party leader is attempting to send Moroccans back to their homeland.
At a municipal election campaign rally, the right-wing Freedom Party leader Greet Wilders told supporters he wanted fewer Moroccans in The Hague.
According to The Chicago Tribune, Wilders told supporters on Wednesday they should vote "for a city with fewer problems, and if it's at all possible, a few fewer Moroccans".
According to the same source, Wilders said "Moroccan scum" should leave the Netherlands, and that Moroccans were over-represented in crime statistics and in the number of people receiving social assistance benefits.
Moroccans living in the Netherlands have been under heavy public scrutiny since the murder of film-maker Theo van Gogh by Moroccan Islamic extremist Mohammed Bouyeri in November 2004. In the years leading up to his murder, Van Gogh had been a scathing critic of what he liked to refer to as "fascist" Islam.
Politician Geert Wilders appears to follow in Theo van Gogh's footsteps. His Freedom Party already has a considerable parliamentary presence, and if the opinion polls are to be believed, “it could become the biggest party in the country come the next elections”, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Wilders has progressively ramped up his anti-Islamic rhetoric, calling the Koran a "fascist book". In 2008, He made a 17-minute-long movie “Fitna” depicting Islam as inherently violent. The film attempted to demonstrate that the Qur'an motivates its followers to hate all who violate Islamic teachings.
Though international media has always looked at him as anti-Muslim, Wilders maintains that he is not anti-Muslim, only anti-Islam, summing up his views by stating "I don't hate Muslims, I hate Islam", according to The Guardian.