British officials detained Dutch Member of Parliament Geert Wilders on Thursday as he tried to enter the country despite a government warning that he had been banned. Wilders reported Thursday afternoon that he was being held at Heathrow airport and would soon be forcibly returned to the Netherlands.
Wilders had flown to Britain in hopes of showing his anti-Islam film “Fitna.” The film intersperses verses from the Koran with images of Muslim violence in an attempt to demonstrate that Islam teaches violence and hatred.
As Britain is part of the European Union and Wilders is an EU politician with no criminal record, Wilders would normally be allowed to enter Britain with no visa or other permit. The decision to bar him was "unprecedented," Dutch diplomats said Thursday.
Wilders said he was invited to Britain by Lord Malcolm Pearson of the House of Lords. Prior to his arrival he announced publicly that he would defy the travel ban, which he termed a “cowardly” attempt to stifle free speech.
British officials said they would turn away “those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities.” Lord Pearson derided the decision to turn away Wilders as “weak and unacceptable in the extreme.”
Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said the Dutch government would work to have the ban on Wilders rescinded.
Wilders has faced trouble in European Union countries before, and currently faces trial in the Netherlands. He was charged with hate speech after calling to ban the Koran.