Hours after a court in the Netherlands found the far-right politician Geert Wilders guilty of breaching anti-discrimination laws by railing against Moroccan immigrants at a rally, a poll found that 53 percent of the country opposed the ruling.
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Wilders, an extreme nationalist obsessed with the supposed threat to Dutch identity from Islam, promises to shut the nation’s borders to Muslim immigrants, ban the Quran, close all mosques and hold a referendum on leaving the European Union if he becomes prime minister.
He denounced the decision by a three-judge panel, but Wilders appears to have benefitted from the trial. His Party for Freedom, known by the Dutch acronym PVV, currently leads in polls ahead of a general election in March, thanks in part to a surge in support during his trial.
Polls show that the Party for Freedom could end up with the most seats in the new Tweede Kamer, the Dutch parliament, with less than a quarter of the vote, since support is split among more than 10 parties.