while singing “You Are Not Alone”, a thousand people rallied Thursday in Utrecht, in the west of the Netherlands, to protest the victory of far-right candidate Geert Wilders in Wednesday’s Dutch legislative election. Another demonstration against the far-right party took place in Amsterdam later in the evening.
Members of left-wing parties organized the Utrecht demonstration “To show the Dutch that we will not abandon anyone and fight for everyone’s rights”According to the organizers.
Led by Geert Wilders, the Party for Freedom (PVV), a populist, Eurosceptic and Islamophobic formation, won thirty-seven of the one hundred and fifty parliamentary seats in the second chamber, making it the leading party in the second chamber.
“An openly racist party”
Although the candidate toned down his harsh anti-Islam views during the election campaign, the PVV manifesto calls for a ban on mosques and the Koran.
Judy Garajoli, a 25-year-old Syrian journalism student, said Mr Wilders’ election victory was a reason for him. “A big fear because B.V.V [était] An openly racist party”.
Many of her friends are refugees with residence cards, she said, and they now fear for their future. Because these residence permits should be cancelled, says the PVV report “Parts of Syria now safe”. “I know what it’s like to flee war to a safe country, but now we don’t feel safe”He told Agence France-Presse.
“I came here for freedom and tolerance, for a place where everyone can do what they want.”30-year-old Egyptian software engineer Haahmed Hassan testified. “When I see a party trying to make this country unsafe, it scares me.”he said.
After the far-right’s victory in legislative elections, which surprised people across borders, its Islamophobic leader Geert Wilders has a difficult task ahead: to form a coalition against his rivals. To form a government, he will have to come to an agreement with the wary right-wing and center-right parties.
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