Wilders' film Fitna released online

The Hague, March 28. Dutch politician Geert Wilders' long-awaited anti-Koran film was released at 19.00 hours on Thursday via Liveleak in both a Dutch and English version. Withing hours millions of people had watched the movie. On Friday, Liveleak removed Fitna from its servers after serious threats to its staff.

The film begins with an image of the Danish cartoon featuring the prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban. It ends with a picture of a ticking bomb, with the camera zoomed in on the fuse, followed by a shot of lightning.

The first 10 minutes consist of a compilation of material from the terrorist attacks on New York, Madrid and London, alternated with translations of verses from the Koran and recordings of speeches from Islamic leaders encouraging violence against non-believers.

In the last five minutes, Wilders focuses on Islam in the Netherlands. There are images of blocks of flats dotted with satellite dishes, policemen removing their shoes before entering a mosque, recordings of preaching and a selection of newspaper headlines.

Then comes Wilders’ vision of ‘the future of the Netherlands’: the hanging of gay people, bleeding children, executions and the decapitated and dismembered body of a woman.

The sound of a ripping page at the end of the film brings to mind Wilders' earlier call on Muslims to tear out pages from the Koran. But immediately after the sound, a text appears explaining: "The sound you heard was a page being removed from a phone book. For it is not up to me, but to Muslims themselves to tear out the hateful verses from the Koran."

In an initial reaction Wilders says he is ‘extremely happy’ that the video has been launched. ‘I want to show that Islam is a test for us. If we want to maintain our freedom, we need to have less Islam in the Netherlands’. He also claims he has made a ‘clear distinction between ideology, Islam and Muslims.' ‘I have nothing against Muslims’, he said.

A statement posted by Liveleak, the British website that initially broadcasted Fitna, explained how that the film was removed from the servers "following threats to our staff of a very serious nature". Parts of the movie are available on Youtube.