Dutch far-right leader Wilders suspends campaigning after threats
“Until I know [I’m one of the targets], I’m not going anywhere,” he said
Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders on Friday suspended campaigning for elections later this month, after learning that he had also been targeted in a foiled attack aimed at Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever.
Hours after having cancelled a planned radio debate, the anti-Islam, anti-immigrant firebrand wrote on the social media platform X that he was informed of the threat by the Dutch intelligence agency NCTV.
“The NCTV does not foresee any ‘residual threat’ but I have a bad feeling, and I am therefore suspending all my campaign activities for the time being,” Wilders added.
Wilders has faced death threats that have kept him under constant police protection since 2004.
The latest came with campaigning for the Dutch election in full swing, with Wilders’s far-right party, the Party for Freedom (PVV), leading in the opinion polls ahead of the upcoming ballot.
A spokeswoman for the Belgian prosecutor’s office said two of the suspects were placed in preventive detention, facing terrorism-related charges. The office said in a statement that they were to be arraigned in court on Wednesday.
Belgian TV channel VRT reported that Wilders, who has long been the target of jihadist groups, may also have figured in the group’s plans.
Geert Wilders among alleged targets of foiled Belgian jihadist plot
Politics
Wilders reposted on X a link to a Belgian media article reporting he was also a target, commenting: “It is now being investigated whether this is true or not.”
“Until I know that, I’m not going anywhere.”
Broadcaster RTL later said that Wilders would not take part in a Sunday television debate with his main election rivals in person.
RTL said it had offered Wilders the opportunity to debate from home, but reported his party had declined the offer.
Many Dutch voters are still undecided ahead of the ballot on 29 October, triggered after Wilders shocked the Dutch political class by provoking the fall of a fragile four-party coalition.
His PVV hopes to repeat its surprise success in the November 2023 ballot, which saw the far-right party come out on top.
