A poster by the fundamentalist Christian SGP advertising a debate on Islam has been withdrawn following protests about the illustration – a bomb with the fuse lit.
The poster includes the text ‘is Islam a threat to the Netherlands?’ with a cartoon drawing of a speech bubble and a bomb. The poster was designed by the central office of the SGP’s youth wing, which says now says there was ‘a slight error in communication’.
‘Our aim was not to provoke and we did not mean to ally the bomb with Islam,’ spokesman Dirk van Horssen told Omroep Gelderland. ‘That would mean discriminating against a population group and that is something we do not support.’
A new poster is currently being produced.
The meeting on June 23 will be addressed by party leader Kees van der Staaij, who has called Islam a threat to the Netherlands in the past.
The SGP, which has only recently allowed women to stand for public office and does not believe they should have the right to vote, has three MPs in parliament. The party believes the Netherlands should be governed according to orthodox Protestant principles.