AMSTERDAM (Agencies)
The Dutch government appealed for restraint on Friday and said it is ready for any possible fallout of a planned film by far-right MP Geert Wilders that attacks Islam as an "inspiration for murder".
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said it was unclear what Wilders -- a politician whose anti-Islam comments have led to death threats -- would say in the film, but there were concerns in the Netherlands and abroad.
Wilders, the head of the far-right Freedom Party, announced in November that he planned to release a 10-minute film this month that will show that Islam's holy book, the Quran, "is an inspiration for intolerance, murder and terror".
Observers say Wilders might burn or tear up the Quran in the movie. In February last year the MP called on Muslims to "tear out half the pages of the Quran and throw them away".
"The Netherlands has a tradition of freedom of speech, religion and beliefs. The Netherlands also has a tradition of respect, tolerance and responsibility. Unnecessarily offending a certain belief or group has no place in that," Balkenende told a news conference in The Hague.
"We are ready to react quickly, it is our role to be prepared for calamities," Balkenende said.
Earlier on Friday Dutch media had reported that the government had compiled a secret document on how best to deal with reactions to the film.
The Hague fears a repeat of riots when thousands took to the streets in Muslim countries to protest cartoons of the prophet Mohammed that appeared in a Danish newspaper in 2005.
The protests left some hundred people dead, Danish embassies were attacked and Danish goods were boycotted.
Dutch public broadcaster TROS said the movie was expected to be shown on Jan. 25, but it was unclear on which TV station.
A film made by a high-profile critic of Islam for Dutch television has a disturbing precedent in the Netherlands.
Three years ago an Islamic militant killed film maker Theo Van Gogh over his film "Submission", written by former Dutch lawmaker Ayaan Hirsi-Ali, in which she accused Islam of condoning violence against women.
The murder unleashed a violent anti-Muslim backlash and forced Hirsi-Ali into hiding. |
