Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders is due to appear in an Amsterdam court on Wednesday on charges of religious insult and anti-Islam incitement.

The prosecution claims his 2008 short film “Fitna“, as well as statements made in interviews and speeches, incite hatred against Muslims. Wilders has called Islam a “backward” culture and the Koran a “fascist book that incites people to violence.”

Citizens in the Dutch town of Amstelveen have condemned plans by local authorities to support a controversial Hindu festival that would involve praying to a Hindu goddess from India, in the heart of the town.

Local officials said the ‘India Diwali Festival’, or ‘Festival of Lights’, is part of a policy to accommodate the Indian community in Amstelveen, a European gateway for international companies due to its location near Schiphol Airport and key highways.

Five years ago bombings and riots fuelled anxiety that Europe’s Muslims were on the verge of mass radicalisation. Those predictions have not been borne out, The Observer writes.

Polls have found that Muslim communities are profoundly influenced by their countries of residence. French Muslims have absorbed the values of France, and are more secular than their German counterparts, for example.

At the request of a Moroccan stand-up comedian a Dutch theater reserved a section of 50 chairs for Muslim women who did not want to sit next to men.

According to The Netherlands Minister of Integration doing so violates Holland’s Equal Treatment Act.

However, the Rotterdam city council, along with mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb — a practicing Muslim — there was no problem.

Amsterdam – Exactly half of the Dutch are opposed to Wednesday’s decision of the appeal court in Amsterdam to prosecute MP Geert Wilders. A minority considers it right that he should be charged with incitement to hatred, discrimination and insulting Muslims as a group, pollster Maurice de Hond reported Friday.

Of all those polled, 66 percent consider that in general, MPs can exceed the boundaries of free speech when they are outside parliament – they have parliamentary immunity inside – and that prosecution should be possible in such cases. A third (33 percent) did not think MPs should ever be prosecuted for anything they say, and 1 percent had no opinion.

The Amsterdam court has ruled that the Public Prosecutor’s Office should after all prosecute the populist politician Geert Wilders for anti-Islamic remarks.

“In a democratic system, hate speech is considered so serious that it is in the general interest to… draw a clear line,” the court in Amsterdam said.

Among other things, Wilders has compared the Quran to Hitler’s book Mein Kampf.

At last an official message to Muslim immigrants: if you want to live here, you must integrate.

If judged on the standard scale of caution in dealing with cultural clashes and Muslims’ obligations to their new homes in Europe, the language of the Dutch position paper and Lilianne Ploumen, Labor’s chairperson, was exceptional.

The paper said: “The mistake we can never repeat is stifling criticism of cultures and religions for reasons of tolerance.”

Government and politicians had too long failed to acknowledge the feelings of “loss and estrangement” felt by Dutch society facing parallel communities that disregard its language, laws and customs.

Now it’s Ehsan Jami‘s turn. After Fitna, from right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders, and Submission, by former Dutch-Somali MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Theo van Gogh, now the young Iranian-born Dutchman Ehsan Jami has made a film about Islam.

‘An Interview with Mohammed’ is less confrontational than its predecessors. The 15-minute film shows Mr Jami interviewing the prophet Muhammed, played by an actor wearing a Bedouin headdress, his face covered by a paper mask. [video]

Face-covering Islamic robes known as burqas and niqabs are to be banned from Holland’s colleges and universities, education minister Ronald Plasterk said on Wednesday.

Health minister Ab Klink is also looking at extending the ban to cover hospitals and healthcare staff.

A controversial anti-blasphemy law is being scrapped by the Dutch government.

In scrapping the law the cabinet is meeting the demand of parliament where a majority of parties argued that offering religious groups an extra layer of legal protection is outdated.

As an alternative the cabinet is now seeking to strengthen anti-discrimination laws against groups whatever their background, thus taking the religious component out of the equation.

There has been wrangling over the mosque for years. This began shortly after a symbolic first brick was laid by the then Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner. He called the project a “symbol of integration” – but this statement rapidly turned out to be untenable.

The mosque is intended to be one of the biggest in Europe. The style is Ottoman, with high minarets and a large central dome. Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen has repeatedly said he hopes the mosque can eventually be built after all.

German police commandos grabbed two terrorist suspects from an Amsterdam-bound flight early Friday before the plane took off from Cologne, police said.

A suicide note was found in their apartment saying that they wanted to die for the “jihad” or “holy war.”

The ban only applies to compulsory education, and so does not include higher vocational education facilities and universities.

Minister Plasterk says that adults can decide for themselves whether they want to be confronted with a teacher wearing a burqa.

Although polygamy is banned in the Netherlands, the marriages of Muslims who have several wives are recognised by Dutch authorities.

Registrars in the major cities, in particular, record dozens of bigamous or polygamous marriages per year.

Dutch smokers are flocking to a religious movement known as “The Only and Universal Smokers Church of God” following a ban on tobacco smoking indoors.

Michiel Eijsbouts, founder and “Smokelighter” of the church he founded in 2001, has insisted that the Dutch smoking ban in place does not apply to members of his church under national and European human rights legislation.

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