Dutch populist Wilders skips campaign event due to possible threat

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AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders, who is leading polls ahead of this month’s election, on Friday cancelled an appearance at a high-profile campaign event due to a possible security threat.

Wilders, in a post on X, cited a Belgian media report that he had been among the targets of a group that was seen to be planning attacks on politicians including Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever.

“Investigations are ongoing to see if these reports are correct or not. I am not going anywhere until I know,” Wilders said.

The anti-Islam populist had been scheduled to join a debate with leaders of other political parties on Friday afternoon, seen as the start of the campaign for the vote on October 29.

Belgian prosecutors on Thursday said the group had been thwarted by a police operation in which two suspects had been arrested.

They said the intention of the group had been to carry out “a jihadist-inspired terrorist attack targeting politicians”.

Sources told Belgian broadcaster VRT that Wilders had indeed been on the group’s target list, but that the threat towards De Wever had been more serious.

The Dutch national anti-terrorism agency NCTV declined to comment on the media report.

Wilders, who has called Islam an existential threat to freedom in the Netherlands, has been living under tight security for more than 20 years due to Islamist death threats.

He won the previous election with a surprisingly wide margin two years ago, but toppled the first government his PVV party had ever joined within a year as he accused other parties of failing to back his tougher immigration policies.

(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Alex Richardson)