Geert Wilders (with hands in front of his face) and Frans Timmermans (right). — © AP
According to PVV leader Geert Wilders, GroenLinks-PvdA figurehead Frans Timmermans is inciting violence. Timmermans rejects that suggestion.
“Folks, our task is clear. We will do nothing to prevent Wilders from coming to power in this country,” Frans Timmermans said on Saturday at the GroenLinks-PVDA conference. Wilders, who won the elections in November, is still trying to form a government.
Timmermans’ statement went down the wrong way with PVV leader Geert Wilders. On X, the former Twitter, Wilders interprets this as a call for violence. “To leave nothing behind? Nothing? So no violence?” he writes. “I’m going to file a report.”
He also calls on his followers to do the same. “In the coming days, everyone will report Frans Timmermans to the police in your own municipality to stop the hatred from the left,” Wilders writes. “Help me put an end to this dangerous left-wing incitement, they have learned nothing from the murder of Pim Fortuyn.” That Dutch politician was murdered by an environmental activist in 2002 nine days before the elections.
Appointment?
It may have been a slip of the tongue by Timmermans. The text that he provided to journalists in advance stated “do not fail to do anything” instead of “do not fail to do anything,” Dutch media write.
Timmermans clarifies in a statement that he is not calling for violence. “My means are always parliamentary and nothing else. I reject any other suggestion.” He responds laconically to Wilders’ report. “Wilders always does this when he is criticized. Then he thrashes around wildly.”