British immigration authorities barred Dutch right-wing parliamentarian Geert Wilders from entering Britain today after he landed in defiance of a government ban, the politician said.
Mr Wilders wanted to show his film Fitna, which argues that the Koran incites violence, in the British parliament. But he was told by British authorities on Tuesday that he was being excluded. Despite that, he took a flight to London.
"I am in a detention centre at Heathrow . . . I am detained. They took my passport. I will not be allowed to enter the country. They will send me back within a few hours," Mr Wilders, who is being prosecuted in the Netherlands because of his anti-Islam remarks, told Reuters from the airport.
Mr Wilders said a British official approached him as he was about to get off the plane from the Netherlands and requested that he accompany him.
Britain's Home Office said he would not be allowed entry into Britain but gave no other details about what had happened.
Mr Wilders told Dutch television on Tuesday that the British government had sent him a letter saying it believed his statements about "Muslims and their beliefs, as expressed in your film Fitnaand elsewhere, would threaten community harmony and therefore public security in the United Kingdom".
The Netherlands has complained to Britain about Mr Wilders's exclusion on the ground that Dutch members of parliament should be able to travel freely in the European Union.
An Amsterdam court has ordered Wilders' prosecution for inciting hatred and discrimination based on comments in various media on Muslims and their beliefs.
Reuters