Geert Wilders To Show Muhammad Cartoons Exhibited At Attacked Texas Art Fair On Dutch TV

Politician To Show Muhammad Cartoons From Texas Art Fair On Dutch TV
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Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who has built a populist base in the Netherlands raging against the “Islamisation of Europe,” is to show cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad on national TV. The drawings were part of a controversial Muhammad Art Exhibit held in Garland, Texas, last month, which was attended by Wilders.

Two Islamist gunmen attacked the event and were killed by local police. The event featured a $10,000 prize for a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.

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Wilders speaks to supporters of the Pegida movement at another of their weekly protests on April 13, 2015 in Dresden, Germany

According to the BBC, Wilders will use a legal loophole that states party-political broadcasts cannot be edited for content to display the cartoons, an act that could offend some Muslims around the world. The Party for Freedom broadcast is reportedly scheduled to air in the coming weeks.

Wilders' party has become renowned for its anti-immigration and anti-Muslim rhetoric, and currently boasts 12 of the 150 seats in the Dutch parliament. In 2014, it was announced Wilders would be prosecuted over allegations he incited racial hatred against the Dutch Moroccan community.

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Personnel remove the bodies of two gunmen Monday, May 4, 2015, in Garland, Texas

Speaking at the event in Texas, the politician said: "If we say, 'it might be offensive, so let's not do it,' then we send a signal to the people who wanted to get into the event in Texas... and all their followers that it works. That we can be intimidated, that we get frightened."

Depictions of Muhammad have led to widespread anger among Muslim communities around the world. In 2006, Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published cartoons satirising the Prophet, sparking riots in Muslim countries and death threats for the editor, Flemming Rose.

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A woman looks at flowers laid near the headquarters of magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, Friday Feb. 6, 2015

Earlier this year, a pair of Islamist gunmen in Paris murdered 12 people after they attacked the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo following publication of similar cartoons.

In 2004, Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was assassinated by Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch-Moroccan Muslim, after making a film with Somali-born writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali that criticised the treatment of women within Islam.

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Pakistani police officers block protesters trying to reach the French Consulate during a protest against caricatures published in French magazine Charlie Hebdo, in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Pakistani protesters rally to protest against caricatures published in French magazine Charlie Hebdo, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Pakistani demonstrators stage a protest against the printing of satirical sketches of the Prophet Muhammad by French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Lahore on January 16, 2014. (credit:ARIF ALI via Getty Images)
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Pakistani protesters chant slogans against caricatures published in French magazine Charlie Hebdo, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Supporters of Pakistani religious group Jamaat-i-Islami protest caricatures published in French magazine Charlie Hebdo, in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Police fire tear gas to disperse supporters of Pakistani religious group Jamaat-i-Islami protesting caricatures published in French magazine Charlie Hebdo, near French Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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A supporters of Pakistani religious group Jamaat-i-Islami tries to escape a water canon during a protest against caricatures published in the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, near the French Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Jordanians protest against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed appearing in 'Charlie Hebdo', after Friday prayers on January 16, 2015 in Amman, Jordan. (credit:Jordan Pix via Getty Images)
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Jordanians protest against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed appearing in 'Charlie Hebdo', after Friday prayers on January 16, 2015 in Amman, Jordan. (credit:Jordan Pix via Getty Images)
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Jordanians protest against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed appearing in 'Charlie Hebdo', after Friday prayers on January 16, 2015 in Amman, Jordan. (credit:Jordan Pix via Getty Images)
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Jordanians protest against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed appearing in 'Charlie Hebdo', after Friday prayers on January 16, 2015 in Amman, Jordan. (credit:Jordan Pix via Getty Images)
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Jordanians protest against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed appearing in 'Charlie Hebdo', after Friday prayers on January 16, 2015 in Amman, Jordan. (credit:Jordan Pix via Getty Images)
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Jordanians protest against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed appearing in 'Charlie Hebdo', after Friday prayers on January 16, 2015 in Amman, Jordan. (credit:Jordan Pix via Getty Images)
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Jordanians protest against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed appearing in 'Charlie Hebdo', after Friday prayers on January 16, 2015 in Amman, Jordan. (credit:Jordan Pix via Getty Images)
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Jordanians protest against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed appearing in 'Charlie Hebdo', after Friday prayers on January 16, 2015 in Amman, Jordan. (credit:Jordan Pix via Getty Images)
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Jordanians protest against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed appearing in 'Charlie Hebdo', after Friday prayers on January 16, 2015 in Amman, Jordan. (credit:Jordan Pix via Getty Images)
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Jordanians protest against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed appearing in 'Charlie Hebdo', after Friday prayers on January 16, 2015 in Amman, Jordan. (credit:Jordan Pix via Getty Images)
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Jordanians protest against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed appearing in 'Charlie Hebdo', after Friday prayers on January 16, 2015 in Amman, Jordan. (credit:Jordan Pix via Getty Images)
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A Sudanese protester shouts slogans during a demonstration against French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo for publishing a cartoon of the Muslim prophet Mohammed on January 16, 2015 after Friday prayers in the capital Khartoum. (credit:ASHRAF SHAZLY via Getty Images)
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Sudanese shout slogans during a demonstration against French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo for publishing a cartoon of the Muslim prophet Mohammed on January 16, 2015 after Friday prayers in the capital Khartoum. (credit:ASHRAF SHAZLY via Getty Images)
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Activists of Majlis Bachao Tahreek burn an effigy of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo during a protest in Hyderabad, India, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Indian Muslim activists from the Majlis Bachao Tahreek (MBT) burn an image depicting former publishing director of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, Stephane Charbonnier, who was killed by gunmen during an attack on the magazine's office, during a protest in Hyderabad on January 16, 2015. (credit:NOAH SEELAM via Getty Images)
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An injured AFP photographer (C) is assisted by friends during clashes between the demonstrators and police near the French Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, on January 16, 2015. (credit:Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Pakistani demonstrators burn a French flag during a protest against the printing of satirical sketches of the Prophet Muhammad by French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Quetta on January 16, 2014. (credit:BANARAS KHAN via Getty Images)