Dutch PM condemns anti-Islam film

3/28/2008 - 7:16:54 AM

Dutch politician Geert Wilders has released a film critical of Islam, setting verses of the Koran against a background of images from terrorist attacks.

The 15-minute film was posted on a website late yesterday and shortly afterwards Dutch television channels rebroadcast segments of it.

The Dutch government had warned Mr Wilders the film could spark violent protests in Islamic countries, like those two years ago after the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

“The film equates Islam with violence. We reject this,” Holland’s prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende said in a televised reaction.

“We...regret that Mr Wilders has released this film. We believe it serves no other purpose than to cause offense.”

Initially, Dutch television refused to broadcast it and Mr Wilders had difficulty finding an internet platform.