As Mike Peterson noted today, anti-Muslim fanatic Geert Wilders planned to replicate a cartoon contest that a dozen years ago resulted in death and destruction.
The contest was to have been held at the tightly guarded offices of his Party for Freedom in the Dutch parliament building. The Dutch government had been at pains to distance itself from the contest.
For entirely selfless motives Wilders has cancelled the blasphemous competition.
“To avoid the risk of victims of Islamic violence, I have decided not to let the cartoon contest go ahead,” the far-right opposition politician said in a written statement on Thursday night.
“It’s not just about me,” Wilders said in the statement. Opponents of the event “see not only me, but the entire Netherlands as a target”.