Amsterdam, November 28 (RHC)-- In the Netherlands, far-right, Islamophobic populist Geert Wilders has vowed to become the next Dutch prime minister after his Freedom Party won the most votes in last week’s parliamentary election. But Wilders will first have to make agreements with at least two other parties to form a government. 

Other Dutch politicians have expressed hesitance or outright refused to back Wilders, who has advocated banning the Qur’an, prohibiting Islamic schools and mosques, and denying entry to asylum seekers. 

In 2017, he referred to Moroccan immigrants as “scum” during a campaign event. He has also made anti-trans remarks. Wilders’s victory has rocked the mostly liberal nation, and European neighbors who are also facing threats of a shift to the far right.  

Protesters took to the streets of Utrecht.   One protest organizer said:  “This is needed, because many kids, adults, a lot of people woke up in this country, and we are worried if they are still welcome here.  This is not the country I fell in love with, which I love so much. The country I love is a country in which we hold each other tight and live together.”

In another protest, four Greenpeace activists jumped into the parliament pond in The Hague to protest Geert Wilders, who has threatened to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement and slash spending on the climate crisis.