Wilders Arrested At Heathrow

From Dinah Lord:

Wilders arrested at Heathrow.

I cannot believe they actually did this. 

The BBC says he is 'being held' by immigration officials.  The Dutch ambassador was waiting for him.

Is he already on his way back to Amsterdam?

It is understood that the controversial politician's passport will be flagged up at Heathrow immigration and he will be refused entry to Britain at that point.

Geez, the blimey brownshirts nabbed him on the tarmac!

His plane is still on the tarmac of Heathrow. On arrival, Mr Wilders was arrested, according to the BBC. A journalist of the Spits daily who is on board says that initially Mr Wilders was not being allowed off the plane. 

We'll give him a strongly worded letter that'll show him.

Upon Geert Wilders' arrival at Heathrow Airport, he was presented with a letter from Britain's Home Office saying that his opinions "threatenen community security." 

The rub?  The UK will put on the dog for an al Qaeda fundraiser, but they ban the democratically elected Dutch MP.

Critics of the UK government have said that the decision has headed to the Muslim lobby which includes Lord Ahmed who according to the Daily Mail journalist invited "an Al Qaeda terror suspect to Parliament".

Mr Mahmoud Abu Rideh was invited to Westminster according to the Daily Mail, an individual who was detained on suspicion of fundraising for groups linked to Al Qaeda.

Well, it looks like they let him off the plane...why WAS he allowed to travel to the UK in December but now all of a sudden it's a problem...

On the plane from Amsterdam, the controversial leader of the Freedom party told Dutch journalists he had travelled to Britain in December without any fuss. "I don't see why there's a problem with me this time," he said. "I don't understand why they allowed me to come before and not now."

Geert sends the AP a text message saying he'd be home within an hour...

Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders sent the Associated Press a text message confirming he would be returned home within the hour.

From the National Review, an open letter from the International Free Press Society.

With this edict, the government of the UK has broken faith with its own glorious tradition of enshrining freedom of speech, and embarked on an authoritarian course of setting the boundaries of political debate. With this action, the government of the UK has also broken faith with its neighbors in the European Union by taking the unprecedented measure of barring entry to a democratically elected representative, and, in Mr. Wilders’ case, party leader from another EU member state. In so doing, the government of the UK has additionally given lie to the organizing EU principle of “open borders” among member states, demonstrating a capricious will to close its borders against ideas of which it disapproves.

The UK may try and silence him but it looks like Geert will be taking his Fitna show on the road...including the US.

Wilders said he had already shown his film to Denmark's parliament and intended to take it to Italy and the US House of Representatives in the coming weeks.

Speaking of free speech - Did you ever think you'd read about a newspaper editor getting arrested "for deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings"?  Guess which religion.  Anybody care to hazard a guess?

Sections of central Kolkata have been paralysed by protests for much of the past week after The Statesman republished an article by The Independent's columnist Johann Hari. Titled "Why should I respect oppressive religions?", the piece was originally printed in The Independent on 28 January. In it, Hari said he believed the right to criticise any religion was being eroded around the world.

The Statesman, a highly respected liberal English-language daily, reprinted the article on 5 February, causing a major backlash among a small group of Muslims who felt that the piece slighted the Prophet Mohamed and insulted their religion. Peaceful protests were held outside The Statesman's offices at the weekend but by Monday, demonstrations had turned violent. Angry crowds began blocking roads, attacking police and calling for the arrest of the article's author and the newspaper's publisher and editor. On Monday and Tuesday police used baton charges to try to disperse crowds and more than 70 protesters were arrested.

Staff at The Statesman were forced to barricade the front entrance to their building and were escorted into their offices through a side door by police. The office is opposite the Tipu Sultan Masjid, Kolkata's largest mosque.