Right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders is currently on trial in the Netherlands, after reportedly making racist remarks against Moroccans based on their race, according to the Guardian.
In March 2014, Wilders had a conversation with supporters of his Freedom party (PVV) as well as Dutch activists, where he reportedly asked the crowd if they wanted to have more or fewer Moroccans in the country.
“Fewer” was the response from the crowd, to which Wilders is reported to have responded, “Well, we’ll take care of that.”
More than 6,000 people filed complaints with the Dutch police, accusing Wilders of inciting people against Moroccan migrants in the country.
In December 2014, the controversial politician was formerly arraigned in court and charged with racial discrimination and inciting hatred.
Contempt of Court
On Monday, the first day of proceedings, Wilders boycotted the trial, labeling it as an attack on freedom of expression.
Just days before the trial began at the Schiphol Airport complex, Wilders tweeted that 43 percent of Netherlanders want fewer Moroccans in the country and that to be silent about it is cowardly:
NL has huge problem with Moroccans.
To be silent about it is cowardly.
43% of Dutch want fewer Moroccans.No verdict will change that.
— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) October 31, 2016
Prosecutor Wouiter Bos condemned Wilders’ decision not to attend the proceedings, saying it was in total contempt of court to air his views through newspapers instead of using the right legal channels.
Still, Wilders announced his intention to boycott the proceedings on Friday in local newspaper AD, where he insisted that he spoke for millions of Dutch people who are fed up with the disruption and terror caused by “so many Moroccans.”
“If talking about that is an offence, the Netherlands is no longer a free country, but a dictatorship,” Wilders said.
Anti-Islam Campaign
Wilders has been leading an anti-Islam campaign across the Netherlands, with his party’s draft manifesto promising to shut down every mosque.
His manifesto also pledges to ban the Koran and headscarves in all government buildings, tear up the Schengen open borders agreement, and initiate a “Nexit” referendum to follow the U.K. out of the European Union.
If found guilty of his charges, Wilders faces a possible jail term of a maximum of two years in prison.
According to Focus Migration, Moroccans are the third largest group of non-Western migrants in the Netherlands.
