You can’t keep a good man down. Dutch “right-wing politician” Geert Wilders (right) has posted a controversial film critical of Islam’s holy book, the Koran, on the internet.
The opening scenes show a copy of the Koran, followed by footage of the attacks on the US on 11 September 2001.
The 17-minute film (Here) was posted on video-sharing website LiveLeak.
Its planned release had sparked angry protests in Muslim countries. The Dutch government has distanced itself from the views of 44-year-old Mr Wilders.
The film is called “Fitna”, a Koranic term sometimes translated as “strife”.
Dutch broadcasters have declined to show the production by the Freedom Party (PVV) leader, who lives under police protection because of earlier death threats.
‘Spiteful’
Graphic images from the bomb attacks on London in July 2005 and Madrid in March 2004 are shown.
Pictures of a woman being stoned, scenes from a beheading and images of the Dutch director Theo van Gogh, who was murdered by a radical Islamist in 2004, are also included.
And pictures appearing to show Muslim demonstrators holding up placards saying “God bless Hitler” and “Freedom go to hell” also feature.
The film shows a young girl in a headscarf making derogatory comments about Jewish people.
A protest aimed at Geert Wilders in Amsterdam on 22 March 2008
Mr Wilders was lambasted at an Amsterdam protest this month
It also displays a graph showing how the number of Muslims in the Netherlands and Europe has grown.
The film ends with someone turning pages of a Koran, followed by a tearing sound.
A text that appears on the screen says: “The sound you heard was from a page (being torn from a) phone book.
“It is not up to me, but up to the Muslims themselves to tear the spiteful verses from the Koran.”
The film concludes: “Stop Islamisation. Defend our freedom.”
Two years ago the publication in Denmark of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad sparked protests across the Muslim world.
But Brahim Bourzik, a spokesman for a Dutch Moroccan group, told Reuters news agency he did not believe Mr Wilders’ film would spark fury from Muslims in Holland.
“It is not a film, it is propaganda,” he said. “All the elements have been seen before, there is nothing new in it.”
The UK-based website which allowed the film to be posted online defended its decision on Thursday.
“LiveLeak.com has a strict stance on remaining unbiased and allowing freedom of speech so far as the law and our rules allow,” it said in a statement posted online.