Fortuyn Shot Dead, Disaster for Netherlands

cnn | 5-6-02 | cnn

[crystalk]

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Dutch rightist Fortuyn shot dead

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (CNN) --Maverick Dutch right-wing politician Pim Fortuyn has been shot dead, police have told CNN.

Fortuyn, 54, was shot in the head at least three times at close range as he was going to a Dutch national radio station in Hilversum, the Associated Press reported.

Opinion polls had shown that Fortuyn and his party, running on an anti-immigration platform, were scheduled to win a large block in the country's parliament in May 15 elections.

A man who was believed to have been carrying a gun is reported to have been arrested outside the Media Park in Hilversum, 20 kilometres (12 miles) southeast of Amsterdam.

Journalist Sander Van Hoorn told CNN: "Fortuyn was shot in the head, just behind his left ear, and in his neck and chest.

"Police have been searching for a single gunman, who was wearing a baseball cap. A police helicopter joined the search.

"People witnessed the gunman open fire and four people are reported to have chased after him."

Fortuyn's rise mirrors a right-wing resurgence in several European countries, lately highlighted by the far right-winger Jean Marie Le Pen's surprise showing in the first round of French presidential elections. Le Pen was soundly defeated in Sunday's run-off vote by incumbent Jacques Chirac.

CNN's European political editor Robin Oakley said: "Fortuyn was part of a new wave of Dutch politicians. He ran on an anti-immigration platform, but insisted he was not like Le Pen.

"He said he wanted nothing to do with Le Pen, but said the Netherlands was 'full up' with 16 million people. Although he said he did not want to deport immigrants, he was critical of Muslims for not joining in Dutch life, and wanted to restrict benefits to people who can speak Dutch.

"His party Leefbaar Nederland won over 30 % of votes in Rotterdam elections and it could have been the third or fourth biggest party in general elections next month.

"If the right toppled the socialists, Fortuyn could have become part of the coalition government."

Oakley said that Fortuyn was a former Marxist and sociology professor and newspaper columnist and was 'out of the staid style of Dutch politics. He was homosexual and drove around in a car with blacked out windows'.

Fortuyn's platform seemed out of place in the Netherlands, which has a reputation for liberalism.

It was the first country to legalise gay marriages, regulate prostitution, approve and control euthanasia, and tolerate the over-the-counter sale of marijuana in hundreds of "coffee shops."

Though tolerant of such subcultures, Fortuyn's popularity has exposed a deep vein of suspicion of immigrants in Europe's most densely populated country, about two million of whose 16 million people are not native Dutch. About 800,000 are Muslims.

He was founder of Leefbaar Nederland, which stunned the Netherlands in March when it won 35 percent of the vote for city council seats in Rotterdam, the second-largest city, The Associated Press reports.

Fortuyn advocates a ban on immigration and has criticised Islam as a "backward culture."

Although he no longer leads the party, polls project that it could win 24 seats in the 150-member parliament in May 15 national elections.

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[crystalk]

Poor Pim. He did his best to stem the Muslim tide, and IMHO they got to him first. He would have astonished the world in the upcoming elections. Despite being gay he was a good and honest man, and Europe's takeover by Muslims has been advanced.

[lizma]

Why does this news thread keep getting pulled?

[crystalk]

I would pronounce his name FOR-town, in English...

Sad to see him gone.

[jpl]

I was wondering the same thing, as it's a legitimate story.

[montag813]

We will soon find out that the powers that be hired a neo-Nazi skinhead to do Fortuyn in, so as to direct anger away from Muslims as the elections approach. Fortuyn HAD to be killed, just as LE Pen HAD to be politically assasinated. The Marxist status quo in Europe hangs by a thread.

[Poohbah]

Mostly because it's already been posted, and the thread is humming away nicely at 277 posts and counting.

[The Great Satan]

Andrew Sullivan was a big fan of Fortuyn, I believe. This guy was a real hero for standing up to the muslims -- and explicitly, the muslims and their whacky death cult religion -- he wasn't an equal-opportunity xenophobe like Le Pen. I wonder if the media will hail his assassination as another victory for democracy. Looks like Europe is going down the toilet.

[KC Burke]

fyi

[crystalk]

As I understand it, his viewpoint was being advanced by two different "lists"=lijst's --in the upcoming elections, that is to say both his own Personal Lijst, the Lijst Pim Fortuyn, and also by the conservative anti-islamic party called Leefbar Netherlands=Livable Netherlands, lijst, which he also helped to found that party.

His loss will be sorely missed. Dutchmen, when your daughters are gang raped by Muslims and your churches desecrated and turned into Mosques, some day you will remember poor Pim.

[KC_Conspirator]

The thing that makes me irate is the incessant description of anybody from the right in Europe of right wing. I have yet to see just one instance, of where European leftists are called left wing or extremist. Its Christianne Amanpour propanda.

[Kermit]

Who's his number two? What's the chances of his party continuing? Sympathy vote? My WAG (wild-*ss guess) is that is wasn't a Muslim, but a Dutch commie/anarchist type. You know, the usual 'anti-globalist demonstrator' type.

[Shermy]

Pim Fortuyn doodgeschoten (NRC Handelsblad)

[ambrose]

Who knows.. his death might vault his party into power... you know, the martyr effect...

[tomahawk]

Holland and other European will be Islamicized within 20 years. The world-wide Jihad is proceeding, virtually unimpeded, except for Israel and the United States.

[joeyman]

Politics is supposed to be a substitute for solving "problems" of aquiring power the old fashioned way (by killing political opponets). Sad to say, we appear to be sliding backwards. Too bad this politician couldn't defend himself with a firearm - but that would probably have been illegal in Holland.

[LarryLied]

Muslims are only part of the problem.The left and Muslims work together to undermine Christianity and western civilization

[zarf]

When did John Malkovich enter politics?

[crystalk]

I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will welcome him into heaven, and that his faults will die with him, and that his death will redouble the efforts of what Dutchmen still have morals and the will to remain non-Islamic, to do whatever it takes to defeat the leftist culture of death.