June 10, 2010
Source: CNN
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/10/anti-islam-partys-success-worries-dutch-muslims/
Opinion polls had predicted the anti-Muslim Party for Freedom would do well in Dutch elections this week - but not this well.
Led by the controversial politician Geert Wilders, the party nearly tripled its representation in parliament, from 9 seats to 24, according to exit polls.
That has Dutch Muslims worried.
"We are all concerned now. It's like we are not welcome any more," said Ibraham Spalburg, the head of SPIOR, an umbrella organization of Muslim groups around the Dutch city of Rotterdam.
Once famously tolerant, Dutch "society has changed a lot in a very dramatic way," Spalburg said. "It's like Islamophobia. It's not nice any more."