Wilders likened to terrorist in Parliament debate

Labour party PvdA leader Diederik Samsom accused anti-Islam PVV leader Geert Wilders of being as manipulative as terrorists in parliamentary debate Wednesday night. Samsom said that Wilders “does precisely the same as what the terrorists do: spread hatred, fear and division.” “With other weapons; with words,” Samsom clarified. He then followed by asking Wilders, “Why do you believe that a strategy of fear, division, and anger or hatred contributes to the solution of this problem? With arms folded tight, Wilders said, “This can only be said by someone with a sick mind. This is despicable and sick.” Political reporter Tom-Jan Meeus called the Labour leader’s remarks “a painful mistake,” and questioned Samsom’s motivation for the remarks. Saying Samsom has little time left to raise the PvdA profile before provincial elections in March, Meeus wrote on NRC.nl that Samsom “in this moment has not helped.“ Still, Samsom was not the only politician to attack the anti-Islam Wilders. VVD leader Halbe Zijlstra also pounced on Wilders, saying on Twitter, “You say you are standing up for freedoms in this country, and you do that by throwing them away.” GroenLinks leader Bram van Ojik also chimed in, saying “You only get angrier and angrier, and your tone is continually rising. It only demonstrates not much self reflection,” according to NOS. “You put millions of people away as terrorists. You put them in a corner,” SP socialist leader Emile Roemer said. “That is extremely dangerous.” “You gain nothing by coming into conflict with everyone here,” CDA leader Sybrand Buma said. “In ten years you will still be standing here angrily."