Muslim-secular rift deepens in Netherlands

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- A yawning religious and racial chasm has opened in the Netherlands in the two weeks since a Muslim apparently killed a secular Dutch filmmaker.

The Nov. 2 shooting and stabbing death of Theo van Gogh, maker of a provocative anti-Muslim film, has triggered widespread fear and anger among most of the Netherland's 16 million citizens over the 5 percent who are Muslim immigrants, the Washington Times reported Friday.

Hours after the killing, polls showed 80 percent of Dutch residents think their country has been changed forever. And since then opinion polls show an overwhelming majority favor a crackdown on Muslim extremists, estimated to number as many as 50,000, mostly Turks and Moroccans.

There also have been at least 20 attempted fire bombings or arson attacks on mosques and Muslim schools with a smaller number of churches being attacked in retaliation.

Meantime a leading anti-immigration politician, Geert Wilders, has gained 20 backers in the 150-member Dutch parliament.

"Ninety percent of our prison population is immigrants. They are the most dependent on our social schemes, they are non-Western and not speaking our language," said Wilders, whom several Islamic Web sites say should be killed.