Relief over anti-Islam film
2008-03-28 15:57
The Hague - The Netherlands were relieved on Friday at mild initial reactions to a controversial anti-Islam film posted on the internet by far-right deputy Geert Wilders amid lingering fears that reception abroad may not be as calm.
Wilders posted his film Fitna, featuring violent imagery of terrorist attacks in New York and Madrid intertwined with Qu'ranic texts, on the internet on Thursday.
As part of damage control efforts by the government, the Dutch ministers of justice and integration met on Friday with organisations representing religious and minority groups to talk about the film ahead of Friday prayers in mosques here.
"Relief over 'mild' Fitna," headlined the left-leaning Volkskrant adding that the film "was not as over the top as expected".
Christian paper Trouw summed it up as "Fitna offends but does not surprise", while the popular Algemeen Dagblad concluded "the book, the Qu'ran, is better".
Violent reactions to come
Although there is relief about the mild reception in the Netherlands the right-wing Telegraaf paper said that "Friday prayers are crucial". It warned of possible violent reactions to come from abroad especially in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
On Thursday the Dutch government was quick to say it regretted that the film finally aired, despite calls on Wilders to reconsider.
"The film equates Islam with violence. We reject that interpretation," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said in a solemn statement a few hours after the film appeared on the LiveLeak video sharing website.
The first minutes of the 17-minute movie shows a Qu'ran being opened and the text of a sura from Islam's holiest tome, which translated from Arabic implores the faithful to "terrorise the enemies of Allah".
The film continues with grisly images of bloodstained bodies in the aftermath of the Madrid train bombings in March 2004, video footage of beheadings and executions and other gruesome images Wilders links to Qu'ranic texts.
The film concludes with someone leafing through the Quraan, accompanied by a tearing sound.
"Defend our freedom"
"The sound you heard was from a page (being torn out) of the phone book. It is not up to me, but up to the Muslims themselves to tear the spiteful verses from the Koran," says a text that appears on the screen.
"Stop Islamisation. Defend our freedom," the film concludes.
The final image is a reproduction of the Danish cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb as a turban. The fuse coming from the bomb is lit and as the screen turns black there is the sound of thunder.
Even before the film was made public Wilders' movie plans had already drawn complaints from Muslims countries, religious groups and warnings from the Dutch government that it could provoke violent protests around the world.
Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said The Hague would remain in constant contact with Dutch embassies in the Muslim world to monitor the mood there.