A thousand people gathered this Thursday in the city of Utrecht, in western Holland, to protest against the surprise victory of the far-right candidate, Geert Wilders, in the legislative elections the day before.
“You are not alone!” repeated the protesters in the protest organized by left-wing parties.
The goal was “to show the Dutch that we never abandon anyone and that we fight for everyone’s rights,” organizers said.
Another demonstration against the Dutch far-right party took place in Amsterdam late in the afternoon.
Geert Wilders shocked the Dutch party system by winning 37 seats in parliament, putting his party in the lead position by a wide margin.
Despite having toned down its most radical anti-Islamic rhetoric during the election campaign, the Freedom Party (PVV) manifesto calls for a ban on mosques and the Koran in the country.
Judy Karajoli, a 25-year-old Syrian journalism student, said Wilders’ electoral success caused her “great fear, because the PVV is an openly racist party that wants to ‘de-Islamize’ the country.”
According to the young woman, many of her friends are refugees with residence visas who fear for the future.
The PVV manifesto indicates that these residence visas should be annulled, because “some parts of Syria are now safe.”
“I know what it’s like to flee from war to take refuge in a safe country, but now we no longer feel safe,” said the university student, quoted by the French news agency AFP.
“I came here looking for freedom and tolerance, a place where everyone can do what they want,” said Haahmed Hassan, a 30-year-old Egyptian computer engineer.
“When I see a party trying to make this country less safe, not more, that scares me,” he said.
After the victory of the far right in the legislative elections, the size of which surprised internationally, its Islamophobic leader, Geert Wilders, now faces a difficult task: convincing his opponents to form a coalition.
The PVV won 37 of the 150 seats in the Dutch parliament, more than double the number obtained in the 2021 elections, according to the almost final results.
Source: TSF
