SysLord
05-06-02, 02:06PM
Right-wing Dutch politician shot dead (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1-288964,00.html)
The Times 06/05/2002
Pim Fortuyn, a Dutch right-wing populist politician, has been shot dead, the Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok confirmed tonight.
Witnesses said a man in a baseball cap opened fire as Fortuyn was about to get into a chauffeur-driven limousine in the parking lot of a Dutch media centre in the central city of Hilversum.
Fortuyn was said to have six bullets to the neck, head and chest, a spokesman for his party told Dutch television.
The assassination comes nine days before general elections in which Mr Fortuyn had been campaigning on an anti-immigrant platform, drawing comparisons with France's Jean-Marie Le Pen. Opinion polls predicted his party, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, could win as much as 15 per cent of the vote.
Tony Blair had been due to visit The Netherlands tomorrow for bilateral talks with Wim Kok and to campaign on behalf of the Socialist leader, Ad Melkert. But Downing Street confirmed tonight that the Prime Minister will not now be going to The Netherlands as the Socialist leader's Rotterdam rally has been cancelled in the wake of the shooting.
Fortuyn sent shock waves through the Dutch political scene after he and his followers won 17 of 45 council seats in March’s municipal elections in the number-two city Rotterdam with an aggressive nationalist and anti-immigrant platform.
His self-styled Pim Fortuyn’s List party was expected to make another strong showing in May 15 parliamentary elections, seen as the next test of the far-right in Europe after the election run of France’s National Front leader
Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Other parties reacted with shock to the shooting and have decided to halt their election campaign, Hans Dijkstal, the leader of the liberal VVD party, told Dutch newsagency ANP.
Ad Melkert, the leader of the ruling labour party PvdA, said the shooting was “appalling”. “It’s hard to grasp this can happen in The Netherlands. Dutch democracy has lost its innocence,” he told NOS television.
Fortuyn, a political newcomer, had been largely dismissed by the major parties after he let loose a torrent of hard-right rhetoric in the run-up to the March vote, with many assuming he could not appeal to the traditionally Dutch liberal electorate.
Professor Pim, as he liked to be called, shocked the Dutch establishment with a blunt call for repeal of the first article of the constitution which forbids discrimination.
His campaign sound-bites were as provocative as they were unforgettable. His promise to shake up traditional politics and stiffen the Dutch fibre particularly struck a nerve with young voters.
His prescription for drug addicts: “You want more? An overdose? Go ahead!”. His welcome for immigrants: a “The Netherlands is full” sign.
In a country where most politicians pride themselves on their low profile, Fortuyn has stood out with his snazzy designer suits, two yapping toy dogs called Kenneth and Carla, and a statuesque butler.
Born in 1948 in a conservative Catholic family in a small town in the Dutch northwest, Fortuyn went to the hippie mecca of Amsterdam in the 1970s to study sociology. He later became a professor but in the last decade made a name as a
columnist and commentator, producing a dozen books on society and politics such as Soulless Europe and Suffocating Netherlands.
Immigration, a groaning health-care system where hospital beds are in short supply, and creeping unemployment have all proved useful fodder in his populist pitch.
A sad day for democracy in the Netherlands. Although the man's ideas are repulsive to me I did not want to see him dead. :mad:
The Times 06/05/2002
Pim Fortuyn, a Dutch right-wing populist politician, has been shot dead, the Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok confirmed tonight.
Witnesses said a man in a baseball cap opened fire as Fortuyn was about to get into a chauffeur-driven limousine in the parking lot of a Dutch media centre in the central city of Hilversum.
Fortuyn was said to have six bullets to the neck, head and chest, a spokesman for his party told Dutch television.
The assassination comes nine days before general elections in which Mr Fortuyn had been campaigning on an anti-immigrant platform, drawing comparisons with France's Jean-Marie Le Pen. Opinion polls predicted his party, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, could win as much as 15 per cent of the vote.
Tony Blair had been due to visit The Netherlands tomorrow for bilateral talks with Wim Kok and to campaign on behalf of the Socialist leader, Ad Melkert. But Downing Street confirmed tonight that the Prime Minister will not now be going to The Netherlands as the Socialist leader's Rotterdam rally has been cancelled in the wake of the shooting.
Fortuyn sent shock waves through the Dutch political scene after he and his followers won 17 of 45 council seats in March’s municipal elections in the number-two city Rotterdam with an aggressive nationalist and anti-immigrant platform.
His self-styled Pim Fortuyn’s List party was expected to make another strong showing in May 15 parliamentary elections, seen as the next test of the far-right in Europe after the election run of France’s National Front leader
Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Other parties reacted with shock to the shooting and have decided to halt their election campaign, Hans Dijkstal, the leader of the liberal VVD party, told Dutch newsagency ANP.
Ad Melkert, the leader of the ruling labour party PvdA, said the shooting was “appalling”. “It’s hard to grasp this can happen in The Netherlands. Dutch democracy has lost its innocence,” he told NOS television.
Fortuyn, a political newcomer, had been largely dismissed by the major parties after he let loose a torrent of hard-right rhetoric in the run-up to the March vote, with many assuming he could not appeal to the traditionally Dutch liberal electorate.
Professor Pim, as he liked to be called, shocked the Dutch establishment with a blunt call for repeal of the first article of the constitution which forbids discrimination.
His campaign sound-bites were as provocative as they were unforgettable. His promise to shake up traditional politics and stiffen the Dutch fibre particularly struck a nerve with young voters.
His prescription for drug addicts: “You want more? An overdose? Go ahead!”. His welcome for immigrants: a “The Netherlands is full” sign.
In a country where most politicians pride themselves on their low profile, Fortuyn has stood out with his snazzy designer suits, two yapping toy dogs called Kenneth and Carla, and a statuesque butler.
Born in 1948 in a conservative Catholic family in a small town in the Dutch northwest, Fortuyn went to the hippie mecca of Amsterdam in the 1970s to study sociology. He later became a professor but in the last decade made a name as a
columnist and commentator, producing a dozen books on society and politics such as Soulless Europe and Suffocating Netherlands.
Immigration, a groaning health-care system where hospital beds are in short supply, and creeping unemployment have all proved useful fodder in his populist pitch.
A sad day for democracy in the Netherlands. Although the man's ideas are repulsive to me I did not want to see him dead. :mad: