Invitation for controversial Dutch politician to appear at Senate cancelled

An invitation for controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders to show his anti-Islamist film Finta at the Czech Senate has been cancelled. Chairman Přemysl Sobotka had called on the Senate’s media committee to bar Mr Wilders’ appearance, saying otherwise it would have been blocked by the upper house’s organisational committee. The invitation had been issued by Civic Democrat senator Jiří Oberfalzer, who has refused to comment on the barring of the Dutch politician. Mr Oberfalzer’s party on Thursday issued a statement saying Geert Wilders’ opinions were fundamentally at odds with the values they espoused. Mr Wilders, the leader of the Netherlands’ Party for Freedom, says Islam is a threat to Europe’s freedom; like Jiří Oberfalzer, he is a Eurosceptic.

Author: Ian Willoughby