28 March 2008

AMSTERDAM - The film Fitna - critical of the Koran and made by controversial parliament member Geert Wilders, one of the Netherlands' most outspoken Islam critics - was posted on the internet Thursday.

Two hours after its release, more than 1 million Dutch nationals had watched the film, while some 800,000 people abroad had watched the movie.

On the website of Dutch commercial broadcaster RTL4 News, some 1,700 people participated in a poll about Fitna. Asked whether it is "good" that Wilders had made the film, 66 percent of the participants in the poll approved the film being released.

A total of 65 percent agreed with Wilders' opinion expressed in the movie.

On the RTL internet debate forum, one person wrote that the film was "fake" and accused Wilders of having "made the Dutch fear World War III is coming soon." Several other participants supported him.

Shortly after Wilders' Freedom Party announced on its website that the long-anticipated, 16-minute film had been posted on the internet Thursday evening, Wilders defended the decision.

The film, he said, was directed against radical Islam and what he called the "Islamisation of the Netherlands," and was not intended to be directed against Muslims.

Wilders said he planned to travel around the Netherlands to talk with the Dutch public - including Muslims - about his ideas expressed in the film.

"I am not against Muslims. I am against the ideology of the Islam," he said. "I think we in the West need to talk about how we will safeguard our freedom in the face of Muslim immigration and radical Islam."

The Dutch government, which was expected to release an official statement, had already formally distanced itself from the film and expressed concern that Dutch people and businesses might be at risk abroad.

Citing freedom of expression, the Dutch government said it would not undertake steps to prohibit the movie unless it was proven Wilders violated Dutch law.

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