Green activist in hiding after Wilders tweet

By Janene Pieters on March 28, 2017 - 08:32
Geert Wilders shares an article about green activist Anne Fleur Dekker on Facebook, 19 March 2017
Geert Wilders shares an article about green activist Anne Fleur Dekker on Facebook, 19 March 2017. (Photo: Screenshot / Geert Wilders / Facebook)

Anne Fleur Dekker (22), an activist and member of the GroenLinks faction in Hilversum, went into hiding because she is being threatened by supporters of PVV leader Geert Wilders and FvD leader Thierry Baudet, she said to Joop.nl. The threats started after she published a column in which she called Baudet a  Wilders in sheep's clothing, and got worse after Wilders shared an article that claims Dekker called for people to throw stones at Wilders, NOS reports.

"I get threats on my work, my family, they know about where I live", the 22-year-old woman said to Joop.nl. "I am active in the city council, which got an extreme approach. The GroenLinks faction I am active in was approached. There are people literally looking for me there at the party office and I am in hiding at the moment because the police said I should stay away from my home."

The Hilversum GroenLinks faction confirmed to NOS that Dekker is in hiding. The Midden-Nederland police could not confirm whether she is in hiding based on police advice.

On March 19th Wilders shared an article from website liefdevoorholland.com on his Facebook page. The article claims that Dekker called for Wilders to be stoned and that she was the head of a polling station in Hilversum for the parliamentary election on March 15th.

A reconstruction by NRC shows that the tweet the article refers to was posted by Dekker last year in response to a woman calling for stones to be thrown at a Mosque in Belgium. That tweet read: "At least 500 people, as 'fun action' on the radical Muslim violence last night", according to NRC. Dekker replied: "Fine type this again." And: "Who is going to throw 500 stones on Wilders with me? I find that a 'fun action'."

Dekker told NRC that her tweet was definitely not a call for violence, but a "cynical response" to the other Twitter user. According to her, the text was taken out of context. "I will never, ever call for violence."

Wilders announced on Twitter that he will file charges of threats against Dekker. 

Hilversum mayor Pieter Broertjes also stated that Dekker was not the head of a polling station, because she has a clear political profile. 

Tags: