More than 2,500 reports of discrimination regarding Geert Wilders' post

Wilders wrote the following caption next to the picture: 'The choice is yours on 29/10', referring to the elections.

The last time the discrimination reporting center received so many reports about a single incident was after the song "Prevention is better than Chinese" during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. At that time, it involved approximately 4,000 reports.

The hotline spokesperson says the large number of reports about Wilders' post is "a clear signal from society." He calls Wilders' post "polarizing, stigmatizing, and discriminatory." The hotline is considering further action.

According to the spokesperson, the image is clearly intended "to portray Muslims in a negative light." The reporting center also sees this reflected in the comments people leave in the reports. "The words we see are, for example, 'tasteless,' 'hateful,' and 'racist.'"

According to him, some reporters are also comparing it to the imagery the Nazis used to describe Jews during World War II. Comparisons to Nazi propaganda are also being made on social media platforms like X and Instagram. A call to report the post has also been circulated there in recent days.

According to the spokesperson, new reports about the message are still coming in. He doesn't yet know what the reporting center will do about the incident. Filing a report is one option, but he emphasizes that nothing has been decided on that yet.

The reporting center calls many reports about a single incident a "cluster report." Last year, a relatively large number of such cluster reports were received. For example, the reporting center received 1,000 reports about a motion by VVD Member of Parliament Bente Becker concerning the collection of data on people with a migration background. It also received over 1,100 reports about statements made by TV personality Johan Derksen about Member of Parliament Habtamu de Hoop (GroenLinks-PvdA).

When the national reporting center was launched in early 2024, 2,300 reports were received about previous experiences of discrimination during the coronavirus pandemic.

Last year, a European report revealed that half of Dutch Muslims experience discrimination. This video shows Ahmed, a resident of The Hague, having his house defaced with racist slogans: